Different Thinking, Familiar Packaging

Organizations love "different thinking."

Until someone actually thinks differently.

Then the questions start. Here are 7 I've heard in corporate America, or watched land on someone else:

1. "Could you communicate that more normally?"

2. "Could you process this more quickly?"

3. "Could you stop asking why?"

4. "Could you sit still?"

5. "Could you be less direct?"

6. "Could you turn your camera on so we know you're engaged?"

7. "Could you just tune it out?"

In Grounded in How I'm Wired, I wrote that different thinking is often welcomed most enthusiastically when it arrives in familiar packaging. That's not inclusion. That's branding.

If you've been asked any of these, let me validate something: squeezing yourself into "familiar packaging" all day is real work, even when nobody sees it.

The hopeful part is that the right environment doesn't ask you to disappear. You can start shaping yours now:

• Trade the apology for specifics: "I think best when I understand the why first."

• Lead with the outcome. Show what your way produces.

• Notice which rooms let you stay a whole person when friction happens, and spend more time in them.

Which of the 7 have you heard?

If this sounds like you, Book 5 was written for you, and for the leaders who want neuroinclusion to be more than branding. Links are in the first comment.

#adhdawarenessmonth #adhdatwork #adhd #neurodiversity #musingsofarecoveringexecutive