Dr. Tim Madden: the next Indiana Jones?

Dr Tim Madden is an assistant professor in the College of Business’ Department of Management. He earned his PhD in Management from the University of Tennessee. His research interests include qualitative research methods, management pedagogy, and strategy-making processes. He teaches at the graduate and undergraduate level in the COB, with a focus on strategic management. He has published research in Academy of Management Review, Organizational Research Methods, Journal of Management Education, and Journal of Vocational Behavior. Dr. Madden joined ECU’s Servire Society in 2019. Outside of ECU, Dr. Madden serves as the Communications Co-Coordinator for the Southern Management Association.

Proudly borrowing from the Proust Questionnaire, we asked Dr. Madden some questions so you can get to know him a little better.

What was your first concert?
I was about ten and a friend of mine had an extra ticket to see Weird Al Yankovic at the (now demolished) Valley Forge Music Fair. It really filled in a lot of the plot holes in the film “UHF.”

What are the qualities you might like in a person?
Honesty and empathy cover just about all the bases.  If you believe that someone is telling you the truth, you can work on anything together. If they can try, even in a small way, to put themselves in your shoes, things go so much more smoothly for everyone. Michael Sorenson’s book, “I Hear You” has been one of the best empathy-building resources I’ve ever come across.

What is your idea of happiness?
Happiness is having a large, loving family in another state. Barring that, it’s the self-awareness to know what you want and the autonomy to pursue it.

If not a professor, what would you be?
This varies based on how much grading I have. Week to week, it’s a toss-up between independently-wealthy philanthropist, pastry chef at the Ritz-Carlton on Maui, long-distance trucker, race car mechanic, or motivational speaker. My midlife crisis is going to hit like a ton of bricks.

If you could go back in time and witness anything in history, where would you go?
The 1889 Paris World’s Fair where the Eiffel Tower was completed. At the time, nobody would have believed that it would be nearly 100 more years before this now-iconic landmark would serve as the backdrop for Duran Duran’s “View to a Kill” music video that accompanied the James Bond film of the same name.

Who is your favorite hero in fiction?
Indiana Jones. Here’s a guy with a PhD who can hold down a full-time university job and still find time to travel the world. That kind of work-life balance is hard to achieve anymore.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Personally, my mom. I absolutely would not be where I am today without her. Professionally, Adam Grant. I have a working theory that “Adam Grant” is a secretly a syndicate of a dozen different people all publishing under the same name, and they hired one person to be the face of the operation when someone has to do an interview. When you look at what he’s accomplished before the age of 40, it’s the only thing that makes sense. His career defies description.

Who are your favorite writers?
For fun: John Elder Robison, Austin Kleon, Terry Pratchett; for work: Jane Dutton, Kim Cameron, Bob Sutton

What is your favorite childhood memory?
Riding my bike around my hometown of Downingtown, PA. The amount of freedom you have when you’re twelve years old and have five bucks in your pocket is pretty incredible.

What’s your favorite ECU/College of Business memory?
Being a part of the installation ceremony for Chancellor Staton. I got to be the faculty representative for the University of Tennessee. We all lined up by order of the date of our alma mater’s founding. At 1794, I was pretty close to the front of the line.

What’s the one thing people would find most surprising to learn about you?
I am one of two Dr. Maddens who teach strategic management in the ECU COB. This is not news to my colleagues, but often takes my students by surprise. On more than one syllabus day, someone has remarked, “I heard you were a woman.”

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