At the recent Future of Work: Neurodiversity in Tech Summit in San Francisco hosted by Mentra, I had the honor of being a keynote for the gala and sharing a story from my early career—when I led a team at MTV Networks that was as cognitively and culturally diverse as it was creative. That team’s ability to solve problems from multiple angles, challenge assumptions, and execute fresh ideas wasn’t just inspiring—it was a business advantage.
We came up with landmark deal structures, launched multiple digital businesses, and hosted the first simultaneous webcast and broadcast with notables like Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, and Garth Brooks. We were also an operational swat team, finding synergies among the MTVN brands and driving cross-functional collaboration. We worked at our own rhythm and respected each other’s different ways of thinking and doing things.
Today, we have a name for part of what made that team so powerful: neurodiversity.
What is Neurodiversity?
Neurodiversity refers to the natural variation in how human brains process information. It encompasses a range of cognitive styles and neurological differences such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and more. Rather than viewing these differences as deficits, the neurodiversity paradigm recognizes them as variations with unique strengths and challenges—each bringing value to the table.
The Innovation Advantage
Research from Deloitte Insights shows that cognitively diverse teams solve problems faster than more homogenous groups. In fast-moving industries like tech, this matters. Diverse thinking styles challenge groupthink, spark new lines of inquiry, inspire more robust brainstorming, and bring a wider stakeholder perspective.
For example:
- Autistic thinkers may excel at pattern recognition and systems design.
- Those with ADHD may bring boundless energy and rapid ideation.
- Dyslexic individuals are often big-picture thinkers and strong spatial reasoners.
In a world where innovation is currency, thinking differently is not just acceptable—it’s essential.
Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy
I had not considered myself neurodiverse, but I now realize that my “whole-brain” approach has been my superpower. As a Studio Art and Sociology double major at Wellesley College, I painted and sculpted as easily as I did social science research and tutored statistics. In my last year of college, I was exploring three very distinct paths: design school, modeling/acting, or law school.
Harvard Business School helped me make my choice by actively recruiting me to be one of their first non-Ph.D. Research Associates. My focus was operations strategy. I had no idea what that was when I started, but I am grateful that Associate Professor Bruce Chew saw something in my unique combination of talents. I was able to do regression analyses, write case studies, and consult with Fortune 500 companies. That led me to get my MBA and focus on the business of entertainment where my knowledge of operations strategy was key.
My innate capacity to see things from a variety of perspectives—often called holographic thinking—has been an advantage as an executive, consultant, coach, entrepreneur, and human.
The Future of Work Demands a Shift
As AI and automation reshape the workforce, human uniqueness becomes even more valuable. McKinsey & Company projects that demand for social, emotional, and higher cognitive skills will dramatically increase by 2030. This includes creativity, complex problem-solving, and collaboration—core strengths of many neurodivergent individuals when supported well.
Many neurodiverse professionals have had to regularly make adaptations in their daily lives to navigate a world that’s not always designed for them. This cultivates traits like resilience, flexibility and agility—core skills for the future as outlined in the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025.
One panel during the Summit was hosted by business consultant and investor Anastasia Miron entitled From Survival to Celebration: Neurodiversity at Work. It featured three of her friends/colleagues—all who are neurodivergent. Each found ways to leverage their unique cognitive abilities to create inspiring careers—Kieran McGinn in design, theatre and transformational coaching, Zara Nemati as a scientist and entrepreneur, and Sam Block as a humanitarian and expert in natural disaster recovery.
Another panel was on How Accessibility and AI Will Shape The Future and featured Casey Hendricks from Google, Lucia Rios from Salesforce, and Mentra’s Founder & CEO Jhillika Kumar as moderator. They provided strategies for what their respective companies are currently doing to create a world of work that works for everyone. Google, for example, offers features like Live Caption, Live Transcribe, Lookout, and TalkBack, which use AI to provide real-time captions, transcribe conversations, describe the physical world, and enhance screen reader capabilities. Salesforce has a robust mentorship program for employees with disabilities to thrive. Mentra uses AI to connect neurodiverse job seekers with their next, great job opportunity.
In the final panel, Velocity meets Wellness, The ND Founder Edge, entrepreneur Dan Feshbach shared insights from the autism innovation accelerator, Multiple. He highlighted start-ups like Focus Co which has created glasses to avoid distraction and sensory fatigue; Haystack which gamifies assessment and hiring in cybersecurity to make it more equitable; and Authentik AI which is the Grammerly for miscommunication and social friction. There is so much going on in these next generation startups that solve for challenges that are not on most of our radars.
What is clear is that unlocking the game-changing potential of neurodiversity requires a shift in culture, not just compliance.
It’s not about accommodating difference—it’s about elevating it. As we upskill technologically, I believe we need to fine-tune the human skills and give space for deeper self-awareness of an individual’s unique strengths.
Embodied Success®: Elevating Unique Strengths
That’s where my Embodied Success® methodology comes in. It’s a coaching and leadership framework I’ve developed that integrates neuroscience, mindfulness, performance psychology, and embodiment techniques. At its core is one simple but powerful principle:
Your power lies in your presence—and your unique presence is your superpower.
Through Embodied Success®, we help individuals recognize and refine their cognitive gifts—whether it’s analytical precision, intuitive insight, or creative agility—and guide leaders to create environments, businesses and/or career paths where those gifts thrive.
It’s about aligning the nervous system, mindset, and communication style so each person can fully embody their strengths—and collaborate across difference with confidence, as well as navigate change and uncertainty with ease. It’s living a fully expressed life and playing full out without burnout.
Ultimately, it’s about transcending the world so that you can remain calm in chaos, and live, lead and create from a place of clarity, authenticity, deep alignment, and grounded power.
Final Thought
Neurodiversity isn’t a box to check on a DEI initiative—it’s a blueprint for the future of innovation. When we build teams that embrace all kinds of minds and physical capacities, and cultures that empower all kinds of thinkers, we don’t just create better workplaces—we create better solutions for a complex world.
Let’s shift the question from “How can we accommodate difference?” to “How can we unleash it?”
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