Olivia: Okay, Jackson. Neurodiversity at Work. Review it in exactly five words. Jackson: Your 'weird' colleague is brilliant. Olivia: Ha! I love it. Mine is: 'Stop fixing people, fix work.' Jackson: That’s it. That’s the whole thing. It’s a powerful idea that feels so obvious once you hear it. Olivia: It perfectly captures the spirit of Neurodiversity at Work by Theo Smith and Amanda Kirby. And what's fascinating about the authors is you have this perfect blend: Theo Smith, an HR leader who is himself neurodiverse, bringing that lived experience... Jackson: The 'inside-out' perspective. Olivia: Exactly. And then you have Professor Amanda Kirby, a medical doctor and researcher with decades of clinical experience. It's this combination of personal story and hard science that makes the book so powerful and highly acclaimed. It was even shortlisted for major business book awards. Jackson: So it’s not just a feel-good book, it’s got real-world credibility. Olivia: Absolutely. And it all starts with that idea of 'stop fixing people.' To do that, you first have to understand what neurodiversity really is, and the authors ground it in these incredibly vivid personal stories.

Olivia: Both authors share these powerful memories of feeling like they didn't fit the mold. Theo Smith tells this amazing story from primary school. He was constantly being told off for not paying attention. One day, the teacher catches him staring at a group of girls practicing a Welsh poem instead of doing his work. Jackson: Oh, I can see where this is going. He's in trouble. Olivia: You'd think so. The teacher confronts him, ready to discipline him, and asks what he's been doing. And Theo, without missing a beat, recites the entire, complex Welsh poem from memory. He'd learned it perfectly just by watching and listening from across the room. Jackson: Wow. So what looked like a behavioral problem was actually a hidden talent. His brain was just learning differently. Olivia: Precisely. And Amanda Kirby tells a similar story of feeling like an 'oddball' in school. She was disorganized in some ways, but hyper-organized in others. She struggled in team sports but excelled in one-on-one activities. She wasn't uniformly good or bad at things; she had these distinct peaks and valleys in her abilities. Jackson: That makes so much sense. The book calls that a 'spiky profile,' right? It’s like a skill chart in a video game. You’re not a flat line of 'average' at everything. You've maxed out your stats in creativity and pattern recognition, but maybe your short-term memory stat is at level one. Olivia: That’s a perfect analogy. And that's the core of neurodiversity. It’s not a bug, it's a feature of human variation. We all have spiky profiles, but for neurodivergent individuals—people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia—those spikes are often more pronounced. Jackson: The book uses another great analogy for this: superpowers and kryptonite. Olivia: It does, and it's a really useful frame. The idea is that these neurological differences can confer incredible strengths, or 'superpowers'—like intense focus, novel problem-solving, or pattern recognition. Jackson: Okay, but I have to push back on that a little. Calling it a 'superpower' feels a bit dismissive of the very real struggles people face. The kryptonite, as the book calls it. Isn't that just a form of toxic positivity? Olivia: That’s a fantastic question, and the book addresses it head-on. It's not about ignoring the challenges. The authors are very clear: the goal isn't to just celebrate the 'superpower' and ignore the 'kryptonite.' The goal is to eliminate the kryptonite. Jackson: What do you mean by that? Olivia: The kryptonite is almost never the person's brain. It's the environment. It's the noisy open-plan office for someone with sensory sensitivity. It's the demand for a perfectly written report from someone with dyslexia. It's the high-pressure, fast-paced interview for someone with anxiety. The book’s argument is that if you remove those environmental barriers—the kryptonite—you don't have to create the superpower. You just allow it to emerge. Jackson: I see. So the responsibility shifts from the individual to the organization. It’s not 'how can you cope better?' but 'how can we build a better environment?' Olivia: Exactly. And that's where the book gets really practical. It's full of examples of how our traditional workplaces are just fundamentally broken for neurodiverse minds.

Olivia: The book gives this stark example of a brilliant autistic candidate applying for a job at the Government Legal Service in the UK. The company used a standardized psychometric test as part of its hiring process. This candidate failed it. Jackson: Let me guess, the test was measuring something that had nothing to do with the actual job. Olivia: You're on the right track. The test had multiple-choice questions where some answers were 'more correct' than others. For a neurotypical brain, it’s easy to pick the 'best fit.' But for an autistic brain that thinks in very precise, logical, and literal terms, this ambiguity was impossible. The candidate later said it was like being asked to answer, 'What is the best color?' Jackson: That's absurd. You're telling me a standardized test, designed to find the best people, was actively filtering out top talent because it was poorly designed? Olivia: That's exactly what the tribunal found. The company's own data showed that almost no self-declared autistic applicants had ever passed this test. The system was the barrier. It was the kryptonite. Jackson: That is infuriating. But it also makes the solution seem so clear. What's the 'after' picture look like? Olivia: The 'after' picture is what companies like Microsoft are doing with their Autism Hiring Program. They recognized that the traditional 30-minute, high-pressure interview was a terrible way to assess talent. It tests for social skills, not coding skills. Jackson: Right, it tests your ability to perform 'confidence.' Olivia: Exactly. So, Microsoft threw it out. Instead, they created a week-long hiring academy. Candidates come in, work on real projects in a team, and are mentored by existing staff. They get to demonstrate their actual skills in a supportive, low-pressure environment. Jackson: So Microsoft didn't lower the bar; they just built a different door. They're testing for the actual job skills, not 'interviewing skills.' Olivia: That's the perfect way to put it. And the results are staggering. The book mentions a JP Morgan study which found that autistic workers in their program were doing the work of people who took three years to ramp up, and they were up to 50 percent more productive. Jackson: Fifty percent more productive! That’s not a small number. It proves that this isn't just a charity case or a DEI checkbox. It's a massive competitive advantage. Olivia: It's a huge advantage. And it comes from moving away from this idea of 'culture fit,' which often just means 'hiring people like us,' to 'culture add.' What new perspective, what spiky profile, can make our team better? Jackson: Okay, so fixing the big systems like hiring is one thing. That feels like it needs a CEO and a whole HR department. But what about the day-to-day? The book talks a lot about line managers, and it feels like that's where the rubber really meets the road.

Olivia: It absolutely is. The book makes it clear that you can have the best policies in the world, but if the direct manager doesn't get it, none of it matters. And it tells this one story that is just devastating. Jackson: Oh boy. Olivia: It's about a new employee who is dyslexic. She's in her probationary period and is really keen to do well. She's waiting for her proofing software to be installed, and she asks her manager if he can check her work to make sure she's on the right track. Jackson: That sounds like a proactive, responsible employee. Olivia: It is. But the manager is under pressure. He keeps putting it off. The employee gets more and more anxious, starts taking work home, losing sleep. Finally, the manager sits down with her, not to help, but to criticize. He highlights all her spelling and formatting errors—knowing she's dyslexic—and a few weeks later, she's let go. Jackson: That is heartbreaking. A whole career, a person's confidence, just derailed by a few bad conversations and a manager who couldn't find ten minutes. Olivia: It's a story of failure. But then the book contrasts it with this incredible story about Clare Corrie, a dyslexic account director at LinkedIn. Her manager, Christopher Barron, was interviewed for the book, and he said something amazing. He said her verbal communication, her drive, her tenacity—all the things that made her a world-class sales professional—he believed they stemmed from her dyslexia. Jackson: Wait, not in spite of it, but because of it? Olivia: Because of it. He saw that because the written word was a challenge, she had overdeveloped her skills in verbal persuasion, in building relationships, in creative problem-solving. He saw her spiky profile and understood that the peaks were extraordinary. Jackson: So what's the difference? What did Clare's manager do right that the other manager got so wrong? Olivia: Curiosity. And psychological safety. He wasn't afraid of her difference; he was curious about it. He created an environment where she could be open about her challenges and, more importantly, her strengths. The first manager saw a problem to be fixed. The second saw a talent to be unleashed. Jackson: It all comes back to conversation. It's not about being an expert in every condition. It's about being a human being who is willing to listen and be curious. Olivia: That's the secret sauce. The book argues that the most important skill for a modern manager is the ability to have a good, open, and supportive conversation.

Jackson: It seems like the whole book boils down to this: for decades, we've been measuring people with the wrong ruler. We built a world—schools, offices, hiring processes—for one type of brain and then act surprised when other types of brains don't fit perfectly. Olivia: Exactly. And the authors argue this isn't just about being 'nice' or 'inclusive' for its own sake, though it is the right thing to do. It's a massive, untapped business opportunity. The book is a call to action for leaders to stop looking for 'well-rounded' people and start building well-rounded teams. Jackson: A team of specialists, not generalists. A team of spiky profiles that complement each other. Olivia: Precisely. The book's final message is one of belonging. It's about creating a workplace where no one has to hide parts of themselves to succeed. Where you can bring your whole, spiky, brilliant self to work. Jackson: It really makes you look at your own workplace differently. We'd love to hear from our listeners—what's one small change you've seen or could make at your job to be more neuro-inclusive? Let us know. It could be as simple as sending an agenda before a meeting or just asking a colleague how they work best. Olivia: Those small things make all the difference. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.