“ADHD is not a superpower,” says Fee Kalter. The founder and managing director was diagnosed with ADHD herself as an adult. Today she advises at Nap! (Proper spelling NAP!) Companies regarding healthy work culture. “It could possibly become one at some point.” What Kalter means by this is: The systems in which people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) move are not designed for or aimed at them. “Therefore, it doesn’t do us any good to present it as a superpower; it devalues our own experience.”
People with ADHD often face hurdles in their everyday work that their neurotypical colleagues do not have to overcome. Things look different again in the management environment, which poses special challenges. But how many managers are actually affected by ADHD? According to Dr. Simone Dogu is difficult to estimate here. She is Agile Lead at DB Systel, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn. “Depending on the interpretation and study situation, we are talking about 12 to 18 percent of the population for various neurodivergent manifestations, for example ADHD, autism or giftedness – that’s quite a few people.”
