Our Purpose
To honor human endeavor
To lift the spirits of achievers
To inspire future good
To change how the world says "well done""
Visible Applause
"Our purpose evolved from my first career as an engineer and executive. During that period I noticed what happened when people were thanked for their efforts; in fact, their commitment to the organization's success increased. It's a universal truth; it will befor yours as well. Those occasions impressed me so much that I knew my destiny would be to help organizations, like yours, purposely and thoughtfully honor the people - employees, volunteers and clients - who care about your cause or vision. We are exclusively dedicated to creating artistic awards and recognition programs tailored to your specific requirements. Whatever your 'bottom line,' it will be enhanced by people because you cared first."Meet Tom Ferguson
It's easy to tell what matters most to Tom Ferguson: acknowledgement, recognition of others, helping people know how much they are appreciated for their talents and contributions. Just mention any one of these and his countenance undergoes a significant change and one can almost hear the gears shifting as he begins to speak.
"I want to help shift the recognition paradigm," he says. "I've seen the awesome power of acknowledgement. It affects everything. Not just the workplace, but families, mental and physical health, everything. All people have gifts, and I think my life's mission is to help organizations recognize and reward value, what people bring to work every day."
Tom was born in Aberdeen Maryland, the son of a chemical engineer. Hoping to follow in his father's footsteps, he obtained a bachelor's and master's degree in Chemical Engineering. He graduated and went to work for Texas Instruments in a business development role. For much of his career he remained on that path, moving up the corporate ladder and learning many valuable things along the way. His on-the-job education included a close up look at how organizations handle the supposedly soft issue of acknowledgement and how the choices around that often ignored topic affected employees and the workplace. Before launching his own company, Tom headed up a corporate team whose focus was improving communication and recognition. "I saw then and there how people reacted to the celebration of excellence. It was amazing and oftentimes transformational."
The flames of that experience flickered for a long time afterward and eventually Tom began spending more and more of his down time thinking about how he could do more to help employees be acknowledged. Eventually, Tom would take the leap of faith and leave the more predictable confines of corporate life and form Visible Applause, a company dedicated to designing customized awards and recognition programs.
He has been at the helm of Visible Applause for more than a decade and it is, by far, his favorite job he has ever had. It feeds his passion and sense of mission to help people understand their own gifts and talents, and how utilizing those gifts and talents make the world (and the world of work) a better place. "I want to raise the bar for recognition in the workplace and maybe in some small way increase the dialogue about it from the boardroom to the people who sweep the floors." He acknowledges that he has a long way to go.
"This seems like pretty basic 'All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten' stuff," he says. "Everybody knows it's important to say 'thank you', but not enough people actually do it. I hope to change that."
Tom is married to Nancy and has 2 grown children, Jeff and Jenny.