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About Tom

It’s easy to tell what matters most to Tom Ferguson: making sure that people are acknowledged for their talents and contributions. "I want to help business leaders understand and witness the incredible influence they have through the delivery of heart felt gratitude", he says. "All people have gifts, and my passion and mission is to help leadership recognize and value what people bring to work everyday."

So how was this life calling forged for Tom? For many of us, there are moments or chapters in our lives that are life changing – if we notice.

On the surface, if you looked at Tom’s life from 30,000 feet you’ll see that he followed in his engineer — father’s footsteps. Tom predictably earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in chemical engineering practiced his craft and crept up the corporate ladder with an international engineering company in the upstream energy marketplace. During that span of more than thirty years he noticed that success in business was principally due to the skills and attitudes of employees. And he concluded that attitudes were most affected by company leadership, core ideologies - vision, values, purpose - and celebrations of achievements.

Beneath the surface, Tom became more curious about what inspired people to enjoy performing at the highest level … even beyond expectations. He recalled that as an 11-year-old entrepreneur-best-places-to-work-newspaper-route-carrier his performance was exceptional. He loved that job — the delivery of the Cleveland Plain Dealer to 33 customers on his bicycle before school.

And why was this task so enjoyable? The money? No. The hours? Especially NO! It was two things; one was the praise and encouragement he received as he went door to door from his very grateful customers. Secondly, he felt a sense of pride in sensing that he served a purpose beyond the pay check – a purpose of bringing the news of the world to his neighborhood.

 

Fast forward some fifty-plus years to the present, and you understand the significance that seemingly insignificant role that played in Tom’s commitment to crafting blueprints for senior executives to inspire performance. Was his experience in that earlier chapter as an 11-year-old really relevant to business performance a half century later? “Absolutely,” he says. “All of us have a significant human desire to be effective … and to contribute to an important cause or purpose. Studies show that the leadership of effective organizations simply sets the course, then inspires people by how they are valued for their achievements. My passion is to simply make that leadership more evident … more visible.”