Everyone operates on terms someone else set.Creating Separation™ rewrites them.
Keynotes and workshops for companies and conferences, strategic advisory for sports organizations, executive coaching for leaders.
I’ve been on every side of the deal — signing, operating, advising, buying. So I know what the other side sees.
Audiences and clients have included
01 · The question
One question, four rooms.
The number was set before you walked in the room. The work is knowing whether it’s any good — and what to ask for instead. I learned it in sports. I’ve made a living on it in business ever since — running clubs, advising clients, and now on the buying side.
For companies & conferences
Every leader operates on terms someone else set: a reorg, a mandate, a market that moved. Keynotes and workshops that give a room the method to read them and make the move.
For sports organizations
Athlete development, because athletes are offered equity, deals and advisors earlier than any generation before them.
For department heads
The job got bigger and the staff didn’t. A senior strategy seat beside a department head who can’t hire one.
For individual leaders
Athletes, founders and executives at a decision they can’t easily reverse. A cross-functional thought partner, and the read you need to make the call.
02 · The vantage
I’ve signed the terms, and I’ve set them.
Insight from experience, not proximity.
Consultants bring a framework they never had to use. Speakers bring a story. I’ve been on the other side of your table.
So your people hear which of their costs are structural and which are choices nobody has revisited. Your negotiators learn what the other side sees before they’re sitting across from it. And the leader carrying the decision gets a read from someone who has had to live with that decision, not model it.
03 · Proof
The rooms that trust the work.
“With so much changing in the world of tech — from AI, shifting economies — this fireside chat was timely and engaging.”
— Juan Garzón, Innovate Charlotte
Most positively reviewed session in the organizer's post-event survey.
“He connected with college students and alumni of all ages… I have worked with Marques several times and hope to continue to do so.”
— Pam Kennett-Hensel, University of New Orleans
“Marques’s unique vision and thoughtful approach have allowed us to take an unstructured plan and turn it into a formalized business model… He made quick work of becoming a critical member of the center for innovation team.”
— Adam Glasofer, Chief Innovation Officer, Virtua Health System
NFL BizWeek · U.S. Bank · NFL Legends · Innovate Charlotte · World Sports Summit · University of New Orleans · SHRM · Hofstra University
04 · Start a conversation
Tell me the room, the decision, or the date.
I answer these myself. Engagements are limited and usually booked a quarter or more ahead.
05 · From the desk
From the Desk of Marques Colston
Long-form essays on the terms of participation in the business of sports.
- Two Transactions That Are Changing College Athletics
Why private investment is becoming essential for program viability and continuity
- Rethinking Success in Modern College Football
Why programs need a clearer way to interpret performance in a fast-changing landscape
- Interpreting This Moment in College Sports
Why college football’s pace of change feels heavier than past shifts