Reply To: How To Be A Leader With ADD

[Anonymous]

I was a senior executive at a F100 company, have serious ADHD and after leaving corporate life I joined with my wife (a licensed psychologist and expert on ADHD) to do both executive coaching and business consulting for people with ADHD. I also worked for ten years with one of the leading success coaches in the country, going through his highest level programs. This is just context for my suggestions…

One of the workshops I teach for people with ADHD is called Managing Your Life as a Project. This is something I learned early, from several of my mentors in corporate life. I was a success nerd and had my first real management positions at a F100 company at age 19. Eventually I moved up to other companies, eventually running a division of one large company and turned around a failing division of that company to be three times more profitable than any other at that company. All using the idea that, with ADHD, it is a requirement that we manage our lives just like a project.

Start with the End – Yes, understand the desired outcomes for yourself and your job. This is basic, but unless you keep the outcomes in clear focus it is easy to be distracted.
Outline the Tasks – Yes! Its basic project management. Outline what needs to be done and by who. Put it on a timeline or calendar. Track the progress every day.
Distraction is NATURAL BRAIN FUNCTION – The ADHD brain functions like all brains in most fashions. Distraction is also curiosity. When you are distracted your brain is sending you a message that “I need more data” to solve a problem…even if you don’t know what the problem is! Yet!
Assistants are a Crutch – Before you shoot holes in my statement. I am not suggesting you don’t delegate. When organizing your office, etc. use your assistant to help you stay focused and on task rather than avoiding difficult tasks. This is a technique from cognitive behavior therapy to teach yourself better focus. Do this for about a year and you’ll actually be better at focusing when nobody is around. It works.
Use An Assistant for the Right Thing – It is a challenge, but before getting an assistant (its not a magic bullet) you will need to define the systems and processes involved. We have an internal process engineer and he helps define those processes so the assistant will know what to do when the show up. I guess you could let them figure it our for themselves, but that is not productive.
Read Your Body – What? Yes, many of the things we see as behaviors such as rocking in our chair or wiggling a foot is NOT excess energy. It is emotional! Our behaviors are driven by emotions. Ask yourself “What am I feeling?” That emotion or feeling is tied to the source of your behaviors. Listen to your body and recognize that it is talking to you.

Do you need to read books or get a coach. Duh! Neurotypical people that are successful do this. However, leadership is part intuition, wisdom, experience and skill. My son has extreme ADHD too. He has a stack of books in his house that he is always reading. Everything from thought leaders in leadership to marketing & manufacturing. Most of my reading is more advanced in psychology, etc. Whatever feeds your abilities to perform at the highest level.

Most of the things you list like “details and administration to keep track of, forgetful (often of critical information), indecisiveness, lack of present-awareness unless totally in the zone, time management of a TEAM of individuals…” is all learned behavior. Very few behaviors in ADHD are hard wired. Any deficiencies you may see like emotions and feelings are learned. Nobody with ADHD is hard wired to have anxiety or fear. In fact, a recent study at Syracuse University appears to demonstrate people with ADHD naturally have many of the core elements required to run a business in excess. The things you listed are cake for someone with ADHD. It is your personal beliefs that are the issue.

There is too much more to outline here, but I also teach another workshop on Lean ADHD Production. It applies many of the techniques used in lean manufacturing processes in your daily work life. (Yes, even my house has labels on the counter where the salt and pepper go.) It is the subject of the current book I am writing. Many of the obsessions of the Japanese that have been leaders in lean are great for us.

Success to you!

 

 

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