What is it about?
While more organizations are interested in hiring autistic employees, there is not much research about how autistic employees move up in their companies or how they develop leadership skills. There is not much research about what strengths autistic leaders are likely to have and what challenges autistic leaders are likely to face. This study interviewed autistic leaders and non-autistic leaders who worked with autistic people about their perspectives on leading while autistic. As a result of analyzing the interviews, we suggest leadership development strategies for autistic leaders. This study intends to inspire more individuals to research the experiences of autistic leaders and is an early step to further understanding the common experiences autistic leaders have.
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Why is it important?
There is not much research about autistic leaders, despite more business interest in hiring autistic employees, some of whom will become leaders. This study represents an early attempt with initial suggestions for leadership development strategies that may be helpful for autistic leaders. While we stress that no strategy will work for every autistic leader, we know that the leadership research literature has not often incorporated the perspectives of autistic leaders.
Perspectives
When talking about this paper, I noticed that a significant number of people are under the assumption that being autistic would make it very difficult or impossible to lead. This is far from what I found when talking to autistic leaders and non-autistic leaders who work with autistic people. As our leadership research traditionally has not incorporated neurodivergent perspectives, I hope this paper represents an early step toward pushing the conversation to amplify neurodivergent voices and, for this paper, question assumptions about what autistic individuals can and cannot do. This paper intends to represent a conceptual springboard for future research.
Nikita Williams Williams
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: (neuro)Diversifying organizations: The case for developing autistic leaders., Consulting Psychology Journal Practice and Research, March 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/cpb0000272.
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