Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Thomas Madden. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Thomas, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I got my resilience from newspaper reporting. Editors at The Philadelphia Inquirer would send me out to do stories requiring interviews with persons who didn’t want to talk to me, so I had to push my way past their resistance, in some instances literally being knocked down, like one time I was trying to get to the President of the United States, who was Richard Nixon at the time when I was a young reporter who’d do anything to get the story. He was in a private booth attending a concert at the Academy of Music when I heard shots fired. OMG! They came from the direction where was seated and running toward there I was tackled by two thugs who told me they were secret service. Trying to get myself loose, with images of Ford’s Theater where Abraham Lincoln was shot, I screamed to let me go, I was a reporter and I heard shots fired. One of the officers replied, “You Jerk, that was the 1812 Overture that starts with cannon fire,” he yelled. Oh! But to show you how resilient is Tom Madden, I recovered from that embarrassing moment, got to interview the President and wrote a nice story about his exciting visit to the City of Brotherly Love.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Currently I’m focused along with my daughter Adrienne on serving a number of clients of our PR firm, TransMedia Group. We’re also in the process of tuning books by authors whom we represent, into films, including a couple of my own, like WORDSHINE MAN, which is full of tips on how to make writing inviting. Another of my books titled “Love Boat 78” is being considered for a film as it deals with the sensitive subject of trying to recover from the loss of a loved one, which is the ultimate challenge to resilience.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Writing. The ability to express in words ones feelings, ones desires effectively is the artful talent I was blessed with for which I’m grateful to God.
My advice to others is to find what you’re good at, but most importantly what you love to do, then practice it and practice it until it shines. And you can take it from the WORDSHINE MAN, who spends a lot of time polishing writing to make it inviting.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
WORDSHINE MAN is a book based on what I’ve learned over many decades to do well and that is make words shine. If you choose just the perfect words, use few of them as possible to make your point, and place them into the shortest sentences you can craft, you’ll score with readers, Do that especially in the beginning, in headlines and subject lines, for if you don’t capture the reader’s attention right away, you might as well go the beach, lay in the sun and bake.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.transmediagroup.com/team
- Linkedin: maddenmischief.com
- Yelp: tmadden@transmediagroup.com
- Other: My weekly blog is www.maddenmischief.com
