1 in 5 of Your Team Is Neurodivergent. Here's How to Lead Them, with Cara Wilson

Up to 20% of your team is neurodivergent, and most leaders have no idea. Full show notes: https://coachfulcoaching.com/podcast/... Executive coach Cara Wilson spent years coaching software engineers before realizing why she understood them so well. Many of them are neurodivergent. So is she. Cara is autistic and has ADHD, and she only found out two years ago. In this episode we cover: Why analytical minds try to break every framework before trusting it The leadership habit that levels the playing field: making the implicit explicit What to do when an employee needs a protocol, not intuition Disclosure and psychological safety: who carries the burden of inclusion The real energetic cost of masking at work Cara Wilson is a people and culture leader who helps organizations scale with intention. Find her at https://tractionleadershipllc.com Work with David: coaching for individuals, coaching for teams, and speaking at https://coachfulcoaching.com CHAPTERS 00:00 Work uniforms and decision fatigue 04:50 What does neurodivergent mean? 07:16 Why coaching engineers means coaching neurodivergent minds 09:13 Why analytical brains try to break your framework 12:59 When employees need a protocol, not intuition 13:39 Make the implicit explicit 15:03 Why communication breaks down across neurotypes 18:16 Disclosure and psychological safety at work 21:21 Cara's late autism diagnosis and the cost of masking 24:16 Every coach has neurodivergent clients 26:05 What becomes possible with real understanding 29:54 Where to find Cara Wilson