De Zerbi, who steered a crisis-hit Spurs to safety on the final day of last season, is gradually piecing the club back together, and Maddison believes the demands the Italian is placing on his squad will pay off over time.
"The manager is very clear that the goals are to be better, to play better football, to be passionate, to be proud to play for this club," Maddison said. "I think if we listen to his style, the way he wants, his principles, I think if you keep the short-term targets of trying to be better and trying to implement the way he will play, the long-term targets will be better.
"It's just a matter of still learning the way he plays. As a player, he's a coach we want to play for because he loves everything with the ball, very attacking. I'm really excited."
Maddison, who has played just 34 minutes of football since rupturing his ACL in a pre-season friendly against Newcastle last summer, has yet to feature in either of Tottenham's opening two pre-season matches on their tour of Asia and Oceania, with De Zerbi taking a cautious approach to his and Destiny Udogie's return.
Speaking about the club's travels, Maddison stressed the value of the trip regardless of his own game time.
"Preparation, it's just great preparation. It's the only chance we get to come on these trips and these tours to see our fans around the world. We're preparing for the first game of the season against Brentford," he said.
"It's a big season for us under a new manager. We want to have a successful season. We need to be better than the last couple of seasons. This is all preparation leading to that first game. The games against Sydney and Chelsea, we're just stepping up the preparation and what we've been working on, creating the team how we want to play and the style we want to play."
De Zerbi's Tottenham have already brought in three defenders this summer in Andy Robertson, Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi, and have yet to concede a goal in pre-season, an early sign of the defensive solidity the manager is trying to instil. The Italian has also made clear more business is expected before the 1 September deadline as he looks to build what he has described as "the base for the future to become great again," with Tottenham's first match of the new Premier League season against Brentford arriving on 22 August.