Career Advisor Corinth MS

Before Vince Thompson was a consultant committed to improving American managers, he worked at a place that had “on-the-couch time” every Friday at 4 p.m.

“We cracked out a couple cases of beer and chips, everybody talked about the week, their department, what they feel thankful for,” Thompson says. “It was a ritual that marked the end of the workweek and beginning of the weekend.”

It helped make Thompson and his peers feel like they were more than just pieces of a machine. Thompson’s big on doing what it takes to make your company the place to be. In his book, Ignited: Managers, Light up Your Career for More Power, More Purpose and More Success (Financial Times Prentice Hall, March 2007, $25.99), Thompson tells the story of Elias Pushner, vice president of online media at Universal McCann Advertising Agency in Los Angeles when he was just 29 years old.

Pushner instituted what he called the “Tipping Point” awards, named for Malcolm Gladwell’s book of the same name. Pushner’s awards recognized his team members for all the small things they did that made a big impact. Recognition, celebration, telling everyone about someone’s great move – those actions make a great manager who creates a great place to work, Thompson says.

“Management’s a really hideous job, and it’s easy to fall off-kilter,” he says. “But managers are the most important people in the workplace” because they are the connection between customers, vendors and execs.

Author: Lynne Meredith Schreiber

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