ON BEING A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE

Refining Success for Neurodivergent Minds

For most of my life, I thought my biggest challenge was being ‘just bad at normal.’

The open-plan offices that left me exhausted after an hour, the networking events where I’d rather hide than make small talk, the way my brain would hyperfocus on a problem until I crashed—these weren’t quirks, they were clues.

All my life, I’d unknowingly built coping mechanisms and perfected the art of masking. I became a master at seeming neurotypical, all while quietly burning the edges of my energy.

Then, at 43, after two years of exploration, it clicked: I’m neurodivergent—AuDHD (a combination of autism and ADHD). That wasn't a change; it was a revelation. Suddenly, my whole history made sense. The hyperfocus that alienated colleagues? It was pattern recognition in deep bloom. The sensitivity to noise and chaos? It was emotional insight. The need for quiet? It was how I brought strategy to life.

What struck me then—and still does—is this: a business world that prides itself on diversity often overlooks neurodivergent minds. We're expected to fit inside systems designed for someone else’s brain.

Yet I know incredible neurodivergent people: entrepreneurs who see patterns others miss, strategists who think five moves ahead, creatives whose solutions feel almost otherworldly.

The issue isn’t in us. It’s in systems not built to honour different ways of thinking.

Working with neurodivergent clients taught me what real success looks like—not fixing minds, but designing life around how our minds naturally work.

I’ve seen ADHD executives craft roles that feed their need for variety, autistic founders build authentic business relationships outside traditional norms, and highly sensitive leaders turn empathy into their professional advantage.

Their common discovery? Their neurodivergent traits were strengths all along—not obstacles to overcome.

But there’s a cost to masking—an invisible tax. Pretending to be someone else day after day drains energy better used elsewhere. Professional life still demands adaptation, but we don’t need to mask so much, or so painfully.

Now, my work is about helping neurodivergent people design success on their own terms—not by squeezing into round holes, but by finding or shaping square spaces where they naturally belong.

Because the world doesn’t need more people trying to be ‘normal.’ It needs people brave enough to be themselves.

Sometimes, the greatest strength is not in fitting in—but in standing out.