ADHD is often viewed a problem to be dealt with or managed in the workplace, but in reality, it brings many of the traits and hallmarks to allow innovative companies thrive. Providing many essential components of any successful, innovative business, as a way of being, by default and intuition, not something that can be learned easily.
While traditional roles and workflows can be extremely challenging for neurodivergent individuals, it's these very differences that fuel novel ideas, abundant energy, and a passion for building teams and articulating missions around those ideas. It often instills people with ADHD with the innate skills needed to be an entrepreneur.
ADHD meets Entrepreneurship
ADHD can be a wellspring of creativity. Entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, credit their ADHD-driven minds for their business success. This way of being for many, however, can also lead to problems in execution and consistency over time without recognising the self-acceptance, supports and structures that need to be in place around them.
It is estimated that 3-5% of the adult population have ADHD, however, research suggests that up to 30% of entrepreneurs have ADHD themselves. It makes sense in many ways, there is much crossover between the traits of an entrepreneur and some of those of ADHD, particularly many of the hyperactive tendencies.
However, without building awareness of ADHD, knowing your limits and implementing the infrastructure and support needed around you, it's quite possible you'll get off-track and oversee what was once a huge positive opportunity or now even a viable business, fall apart, if it ever got off the ground.
An ADHD brain as a never ending idea generation machine
Where do novel ideas, abundant energy and passion for articulating and building mission around ideas come from? Certainly not from routine or scheduling. Innovation and novel thinking don't happen because you schedule a calendar event every Tuesday between 10:00 and 12:00 called "creative thinking time". If you do, good luck with that strategy.
In reality, ADHD means these ideas will just appear anywhere and anytime, like kernels flying around a popcorn machine. Sometimes, one of those ideas that is generated is just too good to ignore. It is as if the kernel generated has become metallic and is immediately and strongly attracted to a magnet.
You now have this idea in mind, it has your full attention, you are already extrapolating different possibilities and outcomes within seconds. By the end of the day, you've a whole business plan in your head. Unfortunately, with ADHD, it probably will stay in your head without knowing how to manage this way of being and getting to action.
ADHD and risk-taking
Setting up a business or going solo is taking a huge leap of faith, taking on incredible risk and legal obligations from the beginning, often forgoing income for a considerable period of time, not knowing what the future will look like, sacrificing so much of your free time in the process.
You have absolutely no clue if you're going to come out the other side in a reasonable amount of time with at least a modest income, any success whatsoever or if you'll fail this time and be back to where you started, with part of your savings gone if you were lucky to have them in the first place.
Does this scare you? It doesn't scare me at all, or millions of others like me. For us, this flavour of ADHD makes this way of being our default, it's what we need, it's all we know. It can be reckless and damaging without awareness and some moderation but bring huge success and be valuable in the pursuit of innovation and developing businesses if applied in the right ways.
Personally, without outlets or strategies to work around this deep and profound sense of curiosity or exploring opportunities, I am prone to depressive episodes and feelings of a lack of self-worth. I become my own worst enemy. I can spend days getting absolutely nothing done, only to find purpose and be 110% involved and working on something new as it arrives. This is extremely typical in a lived ADHD experience.
However, I have come to learn that it is manageable and doesn't have to be a burden that drags you down, that it can be controlled better than I ever expected it could be and I could become consistent and a little more patient.
Taming ADHD (when needed) as an Entrepreneur
Firstly, while you may be willing and eager to manage living with ADHD in a healthier way, I would urge you not to compromise too much. You simply are very unlikely to become someone you are not and why should you?
Fundamentally, you are absolutely fine as you are, you just experience and react to the world around you in a different way. You may need some help adapting your performance and knowing what to actually work on, stay on track while also knowing what your kryptonite is that needs to be avoided at all costs. Being a comfortable version of yourself with ADHD comes from knowing yourself, where ADHD shows up in your life and what you can do about it, and what you don't want to change at all.
Developing awareness, building support and a network around you while establishing routines are crucial things for ADHD entrepreneurs to implement, however even attempting to build such structure can be a challenge for many without help.
Professional ADHD coaching can lead you to your very own conclusions and different ways to operate based on knowing more, to support and to help you manage when things become overwhelmingly challenging and keep you on track. ADHD Coaching is not about giving you a playbook of hacks, it's about empowering you to know more about yourself and act based on getting knowledge, in particular, how our impaired executive functions play out day-to-day and what to do about it.
By building a reliable support system built on this awareness and acquired toolkit, you can navigate the entrepreneurial journey more calmly and not react on impulse constantly. You need to find the balance where you can satisfy your creative needs while ensuring the business is running as a proper business, in ways that may seem completely alien to you.
Keep in mind, it's not all about you, people will be looking for you for vision, direction and purpose in a company, not to panic or get involved in day-to-day tasks, stepping on toes, micromanaging when a problem emerges.
ADHD and Entrepreneurship gone wrong
Having ADHD and becoming a successful Entrepreneur is of course, not a guaranteed path to success, it simply makes it much more likely and possible that you'll generate an idea and get started without the mental blocks and fears others may have.
Under-treated or misunderstood ADHD can wreak havoc on an entrepreneur's life. We can struggle with consistency and delivering results when tasks become routine. Hiring someone to manage operations can be crucial, allowing us to focus on innovation and creative strategies without getting bogged down by day-to-day tasks. Things can deteriorate as quickly as they built things up.
My number one suggestion to anybody with ADHD who is an entrepreneur that's managed to establish a business is to, as soon as you can possibly afford to do so, hire someone senior to run the operations of your business. Someone you can trust. Give them all the authority they need to run the day-to-day. It's what they are good at, you are not.
Essentially, you're on a mission to outsource your frontal-lobe to someone who is better equipped and relishes those challenges, to free yourself up to work on the business, not in it. You're probably not very good in there anymore 90% of the time.
Understanding and working to address the dual nature of ADHD can transform it from a hindrance into a significant advantage as a leader or entrepreneur. By understanding yourself, your ADHD, your strengths and addressing your challenges, you can leverage ADHD to achieve entrepreneurial success, without sinking things out of impulse.
