Professor Maura McAdam, DCU – A finalist in the WMB Empowering Women Award category
12th April 2022
Over the coming weeks, we will be introducing you to our WMB Award Finalists. Ultimately there will be one winner in each of our five Award categories, to be announced at our Conference & Awards on May 16th. If you’d like to attend our Conference & Awards, you can book now>>
Here, we introduce you to Professor Maura McAdam, DCU – a finalist in the WMB Empowering Women Award category.
Title and Company Name
Professor of Management and Director of Entrepreneurship at DCU
You originally hail from
Banbridge, Co. Down (the star of the County Down 😀)
Single or relationship
In a relationship
What is the best part of your job
Helping female entrepreneurs understand the facts not the fiction in relation to starting and navigating entrepreneurship and giving them a voice in a traditional masculine environment (i.e., entrepreneurship)
And the most challenging
Time management and saying ‘no’ and having to turn down some interesting projects as I can’t fit everything in!
Your definition of success
In one-word ‘impact’; impact on my students and seeing the impact that my work has had on women entrepreneurs.
Best trait
Empathy and kindness
Worst trait
Worst case scenario planning 😀
Biggest ‘win’ to date
Being ranked amongst the top 2% of scientists in the world for research impact, in the 2021 (by Stanford University and published in Elsevier BV, which ranks scientists across the world, based on a composite citation index from the Scopus database).
Who inspires you most
In the first instance, both of my parents who have instilled in me a strong moral compass and a strong work ethic combined with the importance of helping others.
Outside of my family, Brené Brown, as she is first and foremost a researcher and academic. We are both qualitative researchers – with a focus on retelling the stories of our respondents. I admire the way she had translated her research findings in a way that has real impact for her listeners and followers.
Name two things on your ‘bucket list’
I am not a big fan of bucket lists, as I try to live in the moment (the best I can) and not wish my life away too much and to date I have been fortunate to have been to the Amazon, the Olympics in Rio in 2016, and zip lining in the Costa Rican rainforest.
However, if I was to come to the end of my days and never had my own puppy or given a TED Talk, I think I would be disappointed.
What does it mean for you to be a woman in business today
It’s hard work; Focus on the journey and the daily micro steps and not fixate on the outcome; it’s all part of a bigger picture.
Best advice to pass on
“When you reach the top, you should remember to send the elevator back down for the others.” — Edith Piaf. This is something that motivates me on a daily basis.
Also when I first started my academic career, a work colleague, used to say “Take people as you find them” – I found this really helpful over the years.
