From the CEO's chair, not a textbook. I built and sold three companies on an ADHD brain I did not understand until I was 49.
Now I do three things with that. I coach the leaders who run on this wiring. I help the organisations that employ them stop losing their best people. And I publish the research that shows why it matters. From the seat, on the same wiring.
CEO × 3 · qualified coach · late diagnosed
There is a lot of noise about neurodiversity at work right now. Some helpful, some not. After three companies, a late diagnosis and reading every published ADHD tribunal judgment in Britain, here is the version I believe.
Most organisations still run on systems built for a kind of person who does not really exist. Constant interruption. Vague communication. Artificial urgency. One size fits all. We call it a people problem. Usually it is a design problem. Whether you are the leader on this wiring or the employer of people who are, that is where I start.
Two ways in, depending on which side of the desk you are on.
You run on an ADHD brain.
You are capable, and it costs more than it should. The work is closing the gap between the leader you are on a good week and the one you want to be every week, without burning out to do it.
You employ people who do.
ADHD tribunal claims are up 750% since 2020, and most start as a performance conversation a manager did not know was dangerous. The Human Operating System trains both sides of the relationship.
The ADHD Tribunal Files
I analysed every published ADHD employment tribunal judgment in Britain, all 475 of them. The finding that matters most: outcomes track manager behaviour, not claimant condition. It is free, ungated, and it is where the coaching and the toolkit come from.
The Three Moments
Three working documents built from the research: the disclosure protocol, the pre-sanction checklist, the adjustments log. What managers actually reach for in the moment.
Aren't we all a little bit ADHD?
A conversation for business audiences about neurodiversity, leadership and the systems we build around people. As given at BrightonSEO. Honest, occasionally uncomfortable, never political.
As AI takes the operational work, the human parts get more valuable, not less.
Attention. Creativity. Trust. Judgement. The odd angle nobody else saw. That is disproportionately where your divergent thinkers earn their keep, and it is the part you cannot automate.
Your "talented but chaotic" people are the ones generating your best ideas.
They are also the ones burning out, or quietly handing in their notice. What you need is not accommodations that breed resentment. You need systems that work for variable brains. That is the work I do, on both sides.
I did not go looking for an ADHD diagnosis. It found me through my son.
His struggles at school led to a discovery about both of us, and it changed how I think about leadership, productivity and culture. Permanently.
I had spent years assuming everyone else found parts of the job easier than I did. They did not. They just had different challenges, invisible in structures built for a neurotypical brain.
I was late-diagnosed at 49, in October 2022. One client put it better than I could: "the mask pays the bills." This is the work of taking the mask off and still winning, and of building organisations where nobody has to wear one.
NetRank
Client Services Director at one of the UK's earliest SEO agencies. Clients including RBS, NatWest, Audi and VW Commercial Vehicles. Acquired by LBi in 2007.
Yard Digital · CEO
Grew the business by £1M in year one and £1.5M in year two. Sold the Analytics division in 2024.
Coach, author & speaker
Accredited with the Association for Coaching. Author of The ADHD Tribunal Files. Speaker, "Aren't We All A Little Bit ADHD?", BrightonSEO Spring 2026.
What stays with people.
"Your session changed the way I think about collaboration. Not just how individuals communicate, but how we adapt to support different working styles."
Workshop attendee"The most impactful thing I have seen at any conference for a long, long time."
BrightonSEO attendee"Someone came over afterwards and said your talk made her feel seen."
BrightonSEO attendee"You were absolutely brilliant. It gave me a lot to think about in my own work. I have two ADHD clients and you gave me real clarity."
Consultant"I really resonated with your story. It is a classic golden-handcuff situation. The mask pays the bills."
Agency leader"The best talk I sat through. Out of the box, and full of actionable ways to improve my workflow."
BrightonSEO attendee