[ad_1]
Research from West Virginia University’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics shows that the brains of people with ADHD function in ways that are beneficial for entrepreneurs.
Associate Professor Nancy McIntyre says her paper, published in the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavioral Research, ranges from “whether ADHD works” to “how ADHD works” in the context of entrepreneurship. He said it was a thing. This paper draws on research demonstrating that entrepreneurs with ADHD can leverage routines, patterns, and habits like a large web that captures and stores stimuli from the environment for later use. Based on.
“My co-authors and I are advancing the idea that ADHD is not a cognitive deficit or disability when thinking about entrepreneurship,” she said. “A person with ADHD and a high level of entrepreneurial spirit may go to big events and meet one person after another who has knowledge, advice, contact information, venture capital, and other resources to offer. Their minds tend to fly from place to place, so they make many connections and save those resources on file for future use. Their network can be used to start or support a company. It’s getting thicker and thicker with resources.”
McIntyre is a former advertising agency owner and has ADHD himself. She said, “In one-on-one conversations and large meetings, my ADHD caused a constant rattle in my brain saying, ‘Hey, it’s cold in here.'” Those new glasses he’s wearing? Does our client prefer red to blue in that brochure? Are the children having fun at nursery? ”
Like McIntyre, many people with ADHD find it especially difficult to pay immediate attention to new information. They tend to have rapid cognitive processing and rapid decision-making, bouncing from stimulus to stimulus, continuously scanning the environment, and quickly shifting their attention from old to new data.
To cope with the constant influx of information, people with ADHD often develop habits, routines, processes, or shortcuts that help them absorb all the data without becoming exhausted by it. These routines are examples of what MacIntyre calls “resource-induced coping heuristics.”
She developed her own set of heuristics to deal with the flood of information flowing into her mind.
“In the morning, my executive assistant gave me the schedule. At the end of each day, she provided me with an overview and action items. She was always by my side taking notes and if I was not available, I had a recorder on the table so I could review the tape later. These routines helped me leverage my resources and focus on important information.”
MacIntyre explained that cognitive heuristics reduce the load on the brain. For example, the “walking” heuristic allows a person to walk without thinking about every step. The “driving” heuristic makes it almost automatic to start the car, fasten your seatbelt, hit the brakes, and shift gears.
Everyone uses heuristic routines to efficiently perform common tasks without much thought or thought about each part of the process. But McIntyre’s research reveals that for entrepreneurs with ADHD, heuristics can be the key to success in his three key qualities: alertness, adaptability, and entrepreneurial intent. I’m doing it.
McIntyre identified individuals with ADHD from among 581 survey respondents who answered questions about the nature of ADHD.
Alert entrepreneurs were good at recognizing business opportunities around them, and they read voraciously and interacted with others to stay tuned to reality. Adaptable people were able to change course when necessary, question their own assumptions, and reaffirm their understanding of a problem or task. And those with a strong entrepreneurial spirit were focused on establishing their own businesses and were actively looking for startup opportunities. ADHD helps facilitate these positive outcomes, McIntyre found.
She said she is particularly interested in ADHD in an entrepreneurial context. Because while traditional employment doesn’t leave you much room to “run off in different directions,” she believes entrepreneurship can offer people with her ADHD the freedom to fail and try again. .
“We need to get rid of the word ‘disability’ and learn to respect and adapt to differences as a society,” McIntyre said. “Even in the world of traditional employment, many companies, including Ernst & Young, Goldman Sachs, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, and Microsoft, are starting to look for job candidates with cognitive differences. People with ADHD are known to be more curious, creative, imaginative, and innovative because their differences make them highly skilled at specific tasks.
“For people with ADHD who want to pursue an entrepreneurial career, this study shows that the more they can do to strengthen their information gathering and organizing routines, the better.”
[ad_2]
Source link
