“Neurodiversity” appears in most industry DEI statements, yet we’ve learned to talk about inclusion while missing what it truly offers. I started with limited knowledge—working with dyslexic and dyspraxia colleagues taught me some basics. But it wasn’t until I worked closely with team members diagnosed with ADHD and autism that I began to see what our industry is missing. While facing complex challenges that need fresh thinking, we’re sidelining the very people who think differently.
This reality sharpened when developing our “We All Meet the World Differently” campaign for Dubai Airports — focused on making travel smoother for people with visible and hidden disabilities. From day one of developing our pitch, we found ourselves immersed in a world we’d previously only observed from the outside.
The Untapped Advantage
The evidence is compelling. In our consultancy, a colleague with ADHD spotted connections between market trends that transformed a struggling campaign. What might be dismissed as “going off topic” proved exactly what we needed.
During our Dubai Airports work, a team member who processes information differently identified patterns in traveller pain points the rest of us missed. Their perspective didn’t just improve our concept—it fundamentally changed our approach.
When faced with an urgent request for a complicated competitor analysis, an autistic team member worked through the night with intense focus, creating something that would have taken our usual team days to develop.
What some call “difficult behaviours” often lead to our best work. A colleague who struggles with group brainstorming created a visual framework that transformed how we present data. Another whose direct communication style might seem blunt consistently helps us cut through the fluff to find messages that actually work.
Working on this inclusive campaign revealed that our neurodivergent colleagues’ contributions were our “secret sauce”—our gold dust for approaching problems differently and delivering remarkable results.
The Self-Imposed Limitation
Why do we maintain structures that hold these valuable thinkers back? We insist on 9-5 schedules despite knowing creative work rarely follows a clock. We demand office presence even though many do their best work in spaces they can control.
Our meetings favour quick talkers over those who need time to process. Our feedback often mistakes different communication styles for poor performance. Our leaders reward those who make them comfortable rather than those who get results through different methods.
These structures exist because they make conventional managers feel in control, not because they produce better work.
The Path Forward
The solution begins with honest self-reflection. We need to see neurodivergent thinking as an advantage, not a problem to fix. This means:
- Replacing fixed schedules with flexible arrangements based on when people work best
- Creating multiple ways to share ideas beyond verbal meetings
- Training leaders to trust and empower teams, valuing unique contributions over conformity
- Changing hiring practices to actively seek different thinking styles
- Creating advancement paths that don’t require hiding who you are
From our learnings on the Dubai Airports campaign, we practice what we preach. By adapting our workflow and communication styles to embrace different thinking patterns, we’ve seen immediate benefits. What began as accommodations have become innovations that improve all our work.
From Inclusion to Advantage
The communications world grows more complex daily. Our industry can no longer afford to waste the talents of different minds.
This isn’t about choosing between inclusion and excellence. Excellence now requires difference. The future belongs to consultancies that see neurodivergent thinking not as something to accommodate but as their greatest competitive advantage—the very thing that will help them solve problems others can’t even see.
Because when we all meet the world differently, we all see opportunities others miss. And in an industry built on fresh thinking, that’s not just good ethics—it’s good business.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
consultancy with teams in Dubai, London and Riyadh. Mojo contextualizes regional dynamics for global organisations and shapes complex business changes into accessible communications.
Be the first to comment on "The Edge We’re Too Conventional to See: Neurodivergent Thinking in Communications"