Pioneering Excellence

Madison is a global leader in employee recognition and incentives, pioneering digital programs since 1995. As an employee-owned company, we deliver recognition, events, and incentive travel solutions that strengthen culture and drive results.

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Designing Sales Meetings That Drive Business Outcomes, Not Just Attendance
Annual sales meetings often represent one of the largest internal investments an organization makes each...
employee traveling
What Actually Drives a Successful Incentive Travel Program After 20 Years in the Field
Incentive travel has never been about the destination. That may sound surprising in an industry that...
employees working together
Sustainability Without Operational Discipline Is Just Messaging
Sustainability is now standard language in meetings and incentive travel. RFPs reference ESG commitments....

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Are you Better Than Don Draper?

Are you Better Than Don Draper?

The TV show Mad Men ended its epic run last Sunday. No series marked the shifting culture and prevailing attitudes of the 1960s better. More than nostalgic, it was an authentic, entertaining and sometimes scary portrayal of the way Americans lived and worked not too long ago. So how far...

The TV show Mad Men ended its epic run last Sunday. No series marked the shifting culture and prevailing attitudes of the 1960s better. More than nostalgic, it was an authentic, entertaining and sometimes scary portrayal of the way Americans lived and worked not too long ago.

So how far have we come since then? We are healthier for one. No more martini lunches. We don’t smoke in the office (or at all) anymore and we are better at recognition. Or are we?

One of my favorite scenes is an exchange between Don Draper and his junior copywriter Peggy Olsen. Don wins an award and takes all the credit. An exasperated Peggy complains that, “You never say thank you.” Don’s response? “That’s what the money is for! And, you should be thanking me!” And then he adds — in what’s a reflection of the times — that she hasn’t earned her dues yet. “You’re young. You will get your recognition!”

The American workplace has grown and matured immensely in five plus decades, but some still harbor the biases of the Sixties — that workers work for money, that they are lucky to have a job and that respect and recognition comes with time and not achievement.

Hopefully your business has a different way of looking at things.

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No, Gen Z Isn’t the Least Loyal Generation — They’re the Least Tolerant of Bad Culture
employees recognizing each other
Why Gen Z Won’t Stay Without Recognition: What This Generation Gets Right About Work
people working together
Gen Z Isn’t Entitled — They’re Honest: Why the Youngest Workforce Is Calling Out What Older Generations Ignored