Here is a short discussion I recorded (and produced) in my spare time - with Adam Cutler. He is a senior designer within IBM and I had a chat with him about being ADHD and also about AI Bias and what it means to neurodivergent.
The Chat is 13 minutes long.
If you want to listen to more ND i have talked to you can find 11 more interviews ( from different countries / with different experience levels ) here: youtube.com/playlist?list=P...
Note: These videos were collated in my spare time and are not a form of marketting - even though I do work in IBM. I just feel sharing different experiences helps many in the ND community.
thanks for sharing. I found this really interesting. Sounds like IBM are really progressive in this area and have some great supportive initiatives. Let’s hope other companies take note as often the larger / tech globals have time, money and resource to invest in these programmes, and see the value it can bring, but will take time for smaller / different industry companies to follow. However, what will help is people like you / us pushing the agenda. And smaller / different companies learning from others, as ultimately it is in everyone’s interest. Having happier neurodiverse people working for the organisation (who are usually either already there in numbers but unannounced, or overlooked through recruitment). And given the opportunity to thrive in the right environment will bring huge value to the business and bottom line. Keep up the great work
Thanks for the feedback. Realistically I think you need to keep in context the size of the IBM company with over 350,000 employees (approx)... so the level of ND engagement varies greatly depending on the location and the passion of individual leaders and communities within each location.
Some locations like Ballarat in Australia or Austin Texas are fully engaged and supportive. Other locations in IBM - say in China - are not. But this type of experience and listening to ND individuals like Paul/Adam and others help us progress into other cultures. So it is an evolving situation... but I think it is a good place to start.
And we also are in talks with other companies as well - as they reach out and look for guidance.
This is fascinating! I love how the discussion doesn't stop at the "I have ADHD and this is what it does to me and that is how I'm coping" level but instead "leans into" how neurodiversity can be capitalised on in ways that are good, satisfying and advantageous for everyone.
I have so far only listened to Adam and Paul but have already gotten a lot out of it, e.g. that it ultimately needs affected people getting together to educate their company, showing them both shortcomings and needs and the huge benefits of a neurodivergent workforce, benefits including not just letting but nurturing people to get to the top, and how it can further benefit a company to have an initiative like the Executives Out Programme and turning it into an investment.
I listened to Paul talking about the challenge of listening and how he conquered it with interest. I very much related to it since it's a huge part of my job as a GP as well, and having had to learn how people feel listened to, often the hard way, yet also through positive reinforcement and then the effects of applying empathy and practising modification of conversations so they allowed me to feel genuine compassion, a form of trickery on myself, attending numerous workshops on effective communication and consultation skills and open conversations with colleagues, family and friends really struck a cord.
Adam highlights how the cerebral influx of many thoughts and ideas at one time can be utilised to come together to form something new, exciting, no-one has thought of and with great potential. I wish there was more of this on this forum so I welcomed your contribution a lot.
I think very similarly in terms of turning what appears on the surface as deficit into an opportunity and routinely turn the coin over to look at the other side. This can be applied to many situations anyway. Currently I work on a risk minimisation strategy yet am still in the early stages of convincing my bosses of its necessity, never mind benefit. They have this in lots of other industries and in public services in some form usually as well but not in the sense that private companies public health services contract with have adopted. The challenge here is to hierarchically as well as horizontally structure the many demographic, systemic, human factors increasing risk to patients into a scenario which realistically, transparently and fathomably illustrates how these factors come together to form the "perfect storm", then show alongside this model how to use simple, cost-limited but consistent dismantling techniques to reduce risk. It's obviously a work in progress but my experience is there and my observation skills acute and well refined through decades of work at the coal face.
Thanks for your feedback. This is very thoughtful.
When I was driving changes to our hiring practices I drove it from a business case perspective - to get leadership to understand the financial benefit of actively growing a more diverse workplace.
If you are interested in this approach which was highly successful I am happy to share my approach here is this short video. Let me know if you have questions or want the actual business case template i used.
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