A Hidden Force: Unlocking the Potential of Neurodiversity at Work
Ed Thompson
Fast Company Press (March 2023)

“‘Potential’ means you ain’t done it yet.” Darrell Royal

The former Hall of Fame head football coach of the Texas Longhorns offers an observation best appreciated in combination with another by Thomas Edison: “Vision without execution is hallucination.”

I agree with Ed Thompson that most people — especially in the business world — think of  “diversity” in terms of age, gender, race, values, religion, ethnicity, temperament, etc. In a word, biodiversity and its demographics. That’s true, up to a point. But Thompson doesn’t stop there. In his latest book, he explains how to unlock a hidden or neglected “force” within a workplace culture. He asserts that “neurodiversity –the infinite variety of human neurocognition (or what we could simply term ‘brain wiring’) — appears as much a fact of our human species as biodiversity is to the natural world. Simply put, everyone possesses information and experiences the world differently. We now know that there is no single brain.”

So what? A great deal really. Thompson: “It follows, then, that every team and every organization is, by definition, neurodiverse, consisting of different thinkers, each with their own distinct brain wiring and their own preferences in how they like to perceive, communicated, work, and learn…While everyone has their own information-processing style and traits, some combinations of traits can be more common than others in certain contexts. In workplaces, this can lead to the emergence of norms that reflect the traits and preferences of the neurotypical majority.”

Here are a few complementary observations from Ananya Biswas: “Neurodiversity is a term modeled after the word biodiversity,’ the idea that there is strength in the variety of species in nature. Neurodiversity refers similarly to the idea of society being strengthened by many different viewpoints, often specifically referring to the benefits of the perspectives of neurodivergent people. But what is neurodivergence, and what does the adjective ‘neurodivergent’ mean? The term ‘neurodivergent’ refers to having, literally, a different kind of brain than others. This can be due to learning disabilities, like dyspraxia, or conditions like ADHD and autism where one’s brain is literally wired differently.”

Thompson notes that the neurodiversity movement began with individuals — primarily autistic — connecting in the obscure chat rooms and message boards of the World Wide Web. “The emergence of neuroinclusion — and this book —  is all about the belated but glorious fusion of two strands of thought. First, the recognition of human neurodiversity and the need to better include all types of brains, including the neurodivergent. And second, the business world’s growing recognition and enthusiasm for the demonstrated fruits of diversity of thought.”

Obviously, no brief commentary such as mine can do full justice to the invaluable information, insights, and counsel that Ed Thompson provides in abundance but I hope I have at least indicated why I think so highly of this book, especially today when the global business today is much more volatile, more uncertain, more complex, and more ambiguous than at any prior time that I can recall.  The need to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion is indeed great but there is an even greater need for DEI initiatives to be driven by neurodiversity as well s by biodiversity or by arbitrary demographics.