Recommended Read: Learning from Neurodivergent Leaders | Dr. Nancy Doyle

Leadership training tells us we need to be listeners, to be empathetic, flexible, and responsive, to build teams by building relationships. But for many emerging leaders, these are already overplayed skills.

Women, disabled people, people minoritised by race, ethnicity, poverty or LGBTQ are often already well versed in these behaviours after years of trying to fit in and avoid discrimination at work. As we become leaders, we need advice on how to hold our boundaries, avoid people taking advantage of us, how to feel comfortable being bold, decisive, and ambitious. This book is for us.

Like many neurodivergent people, I quickly tired of climbing the corporate ladder and moved into self-employment in my twenties. I qualified as an Occupational Psychologist and I specialised in disability employment, coaching, assessments and training. In my thirties, I started my own business, mainly because I had more neurodiversity work than I knew how to handle with young children, and it made sense to subcontract. Within a few years, I had over 50 subcontractors and several employees. Over a decade later, I have over 50 employees and hundreds of subcontractors. I am part of a leadership team of majority disabled, majority female leaders. It has been a steep trajectory!

As an Occupational Psychologist I studied leadership and management as part of my training. I am well versed in the power dynamics of typical, pyramid patriarchal organisations. I’ve studied the risks of ‘Dark Triad’ leadership, where Machiavellian, psychopathic and narcissistic traits derail leadership careers or bring harm to businesses. But this did not resonate with my experiences in leadership, or what I observed in my management team, where the majority have at least one marginalised identity and often two or three. My team and I weren’t power-hungry, greedy monsters who needed to be taught the basics of listening and reciprocating. Instead, we were working ourselves to the bone, trying to be all things to all people. Our ‘Dark Triad’ was deference, rescuing and martyrdom.

In Learning from Neurodivergent Leaders I’ve brought together the strands of my expertise. I’ve explained (in layman’s terms) some of the theory and research that highlights the experience of marginalised leaders, of workplace wellbeing and work-life harmony, positive power dynamics and sustainable cultures. My neurodivergent colleagues, peers and collaborators have shared our personal stories, all the things we got wrong, the mistakes we made, the traps to avoid and our vulnerabilities. And then I’ve summarised each section into a simple list of do’s and don’t’s for my neurodivergent brethren who are not fans of reading! There’s a personal development workbook to help you process your own leadership journey.

The goal of the book is to represent a different leadership journey, one where we don’t need to be corralled into behaving fairly and ethically, one where we are doing our best for everyone already. My test readers so far have told me that they “feel seen” and that the stories, statistics and strategies are reassuring, affirming and encouraging. I’d love to prevent the next generation of leaders from burning out like I, and so many of my peers, have done. I’d love to inspire the current generation of leaders to be kinder to ourselves and to tread the tricky balance of being healthy AND successful.

ORDER YOUR COPY HERE


Check out our other recommended reads, covering everything from health tips to career advice. There’s something for everyone here.

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