Neurodivergent Executives (Like The Yeti but Real)
Ken Carlson
Experienced Executive Coach and Leadership Trainer with a knack for working with Geeks; Specializing in Engineering, Science, Math, and Medical.
We live in the best time the world has ever known.
I really believe this.
We are in the creative age. The imagination age. The dreams of our great-grandparents have long been true.
Think of being alive just 100 years ago. The life expectancy in the USA was 59 years old, today it’s nearly 80 years old. Almost everyone in the world has access to unlimited knowledge and content. We are more educated than ever, in fact in 1924 only 24% of humans were literate, and now that rate stands at 87% and 99% in most developed countries.
But you might say—Ken—we have so far to go. And you would be right. We do. We have a long way to go. It’s a matter of what you focus on. There continues to be a multitude of issues and injustices that we are faced with each day.
We go after one injustice, and another one pops up. And the world calls us into service. To create a better world—to serve at the level where we can make the biggest difference.
That’s why we created PricklyPear.
Petra Russell, PCC, CPC, ELI-MP and I have been working with leaders for nearly two decades and we encountered so many neurodivergent leaders who got something unique from our coaching and from our trainings.
Today, many large organizations are serving the neurodivergent community. They are making it easier to get hired and some companies like Microsoft are even targeting Neurodivergent individuals because of the superpowers they bring to the workforce. Our education system is finally catching up to the different neurodivergent traits—still progress to make but gone are the days when sharing that your child has ADHD was met with bewildered looks and zero resources.
I met a leader on LinkedIn this week who has experienced that bewilderment. These articles were the first time he had seen anyone addressing the challenges of senior leaders. I’m glad he found us—but I wish it wasn’t true that so many leaders don’t even want to self-identify for fear of being labeled or put in a box.
We still live in a world where neurodivergent executives feel alone. Feel like they can’t talk about what is really going on with them.
Everyone needs a space of confidentiality where we can talk about our whole life. The single biggest issue that executives deal with is Imposter Syndrome and you can only imagine how leaders with ADHD, ASD, or Dyslexia judge themselves—even when they’ve proven themselves over and over again.
Happy to have a confidential call with you if this touches a nerve. Just book 30-minutes here. We hope we can serve you.
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Past Articles: Neurodiverse Leadership Resource Library
Want more resources on neurodivergent leadership? We are finding and creating resources for you. Watch this section expand every week.
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