A Neurodivergent Path to Business Brilliance
Leaning Into Your Own Way of Knowing
WRITTEN BY: DR ANNEMARIE O’DWYER, NEURODIVERGENT INSIDER
In both business and academia, we’re often presented with well-worn paths to success—models, theories, best practices, and data-driven strategies that promise results. But as I’ve navigated both a PhD and the early stages of starting my own business, one question kept bubbling to the surface:
Do any of these well-established methods actually make sense to me? Are they “Annemarie-shaped”?
As someone who identifies as neurodivergent, my way of receiving and processing information doesn’t always align with traditional norms. My thinking and processing profile is often spiky, non-linear, and layered. While I’ve certainly found value in some of the available frameworks, things didn’t truly click until I leaned into my own intuitive and creative ways of knowing. That’s when the magic happened. I began to create a space that worked for me—and that’s when I truly started to thrive.
Ways of Knowing: Beyond the Conventional
In academia, I drew on my own experiences as both a teacher and researcher with specific learning differences (SpLDs), which gave me the opportunity to explore what I call my “neurodivergent ways of knowing.” This idea, inspired by feminist theory (Belenky et al., 1988), suggests that our personal histories, identities, and perspectives aren’t distractions from knowledge production—they’re assets.
When I applied that lens to my business thinking, it gave me the headspace to think about how I could leverage my strengths as a neurodivergent person, and couple that with my knowledge and expertise of working in the education sector, to provide services that appreciated both the context of the sector and my insights as a neurodivergent ‘insider.’ I stopped trying to force myself into someone else’s idea of “best practice” and instead started building methods and strategies that were uniquely mine. I urge you to consider: What would your business look like if it were shaped entirely around the way you best process, understand, and create knowledge?
Making It Work for Me
For example, during the most daunting stage of my doctoral research—data analysis—I was faced with the herculean task of making sense of a mountain of transcripts and themes. For someone with recall and processing differences, this felt overwhelming. But I knew from experience what worked for me: visual, color-coded, physical organisation.
So, I covered my walls in large flip chart papers, each dedicated to a different code. I used colour associations to distinguish themes and laid them side-by-side to evaluate their uniqueness. For instance, “Performative technology/proof” was charted in blue, while “Improve or proof” went green. This process, while circuitous and unconventional, allowed me to map the data in a way that my brain could process effectively.
As Shaywitz (2008) puts it, the journey for someone with dyslexia is “circuitous and bumpy… you get where you’re going, but it takes a lot longer.” And yet, in that winding route, I carved out a pathway that made sense to me.
A Call to Business Owners
If you’re a business owner who feels constrained by conventional advice, I invite you to consider this: You don’t have to think like everyone else to succeed. In fact, the more you lean into your own way of knowing, the more authentic, resilient, and innovative your business will become.
Your intuition, your patterns, your quirks, and even your perceived “struggles” are not liabilities. They’re insights. They’re tools. They’re potential.
So listen in, friend: you’re about to free yourself from rigid expectations. There’s no one “right” way to think, learn, lead, or build.
There’s only your way —and that’s more than enough.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Annemarie O’Dwyer is a neurodivergent powerhouse who’s been shaking up education for over 20 years — from classrooms to boardrooms, and now as a consultant championing neuro-inclusive teaching. With a PhD in her back pocket, a career rooted in innovation, and a firm belief that tech should work with our brains (not against them), she helps education leaders rethink their policies and their practice. She’s the insider voice the sector desperately needs — bold, brilliant, and unafraid to call it as it is.
When she’s not crafting game-changing CPD for medical professionals or leading sector-wide change, you’ll find her swimming in the sea, likely under strict orders from Scarlett — her four-legged boss and full-time diva.
