What a brilliant event that was. Helen Evans and John Higgins led us on an astonishing, and very personal, exploration of the reality of Helen’s experience of being a top leader with autism. I thought I’d read quite a lot about this field, but at every turn in this conversation I found something new. The topic certainly resonated with our connections, with well over 100 people registering to take part, and 70 turning up “live” on the call.
As usual I’m not going to attempt any kind of summary, I’d never do the event justice. We’ve got a recording for that, and it’s best to let Helen and John speak for themselves. But what I can do here is to reflect on some of what I personally took from the experience.
I loved Helen’s tour of the difference and strength that her autism brought to her leadership. I also really appreciated the reminder that autism is a spectrum, and that not all autistic people will have the same attributes, skills and experiences. The differences are extremely important and interesting. There is research that shows, for example, that autistic people are less likely to be subject to the “bystander effect”; the fact that autistic people tend not to experience, or be inhibited by, social hierarchy; the creativity and calm thinking that many autistic people bring.
It was useful to hear how often Helen had to “mask” a lot of her ways of being, to make her presence more palatable to others in the workplace and that this came at a cost, eventually risking “autistic burnout”.
Helen was open and deeply personal in telling her story, reminding us that not all neurodivergent people experience the same thing in the same way. I got new insight from Helen speaking about how her feelings and how they often turn up as a physical symptom, and how she does feel emotions, but can’t easily name what the emotion is. Talking about her inability to visualise ideas, or to recognise faces. Talking about the lack of her short-term memory, or how she might easily “put her foot in it” in a social interaction, or have a “melt down”, not so much anger as a loss of control.
Helen dismissed some of the myths of autism that can act as barriers to employment and promotion and gave a wealth of ideas on how to include neurodivergent people to allow them to bring more of their skills and energies to work. Helen also offered tips and ideas for neurodivergent people in how to protect and advance their own needs in the workplace.
I was also struck by the conversation about John and Helen’s preparation for the event – their own misunderstandings along the way, and the journey they’d been on in learning how to work together in the creation of the “pop-up”.
It was a powerful session and stimulated a lot of questions in the chat. We agreed that if there are more questions after the event, we’d try to collate them and find a way to respond. Please do let us know by writing to Angus@gameshift.co.uk
I finished the session very grateful to Helen and John for all their preparation, and for the brilliant event itself. We hope you enjoy the recording, which is below, either as a reminder of the session, or as catch-up because you couldn’t make the event itself.
Finally, here are the main links that Helen referenced in her talk:
Neurodiversity at Work Report, 2023: Click here to view.
Neurodiversity in Business: Click here to view.
Neurodiversity in Employment, Autistica: Click here to view.
A further (very recent) piece of research Helen mentioned, on the organisational benefits of neurodiversity, is here.
In the chat someone also referenced Auticon who are an Autistic majority consultancy firm: Click here to view.
Our next pop-up:
We’d love to see you at our next pop-up, which is on the 14th March 2024, from 8.30am-10.00am.
Georgina Collins will be hosting our next pop-up which is all about using Vertical Development in transformation. It will include stories from the practice of change. You can find out more here.
About Helen Evans:
Helen is an award-winning charity leader, whistleblower and #ActuallyAutistic advocate. In 2018, Helen hit the headlines after she spoke publicly about systemic sexual exploitation and abuse at Oxfam GB. She went on to give evidence to MPs and the Charity Commission, leading to changes in the way the charity sector is now regulated in respect of safeguarding. Since leaving Oxfam GB, Helen has led several third sector organisations in the UK and is one of only a handful of openly Autistic charity CEOs.
Last year she spoke about her autism diagnosis and the positive role this played in her whistleblowing in the feature length documentary ‘When We Speak’. Helen is now a well-regarded public commentator on Autistic leadership and whistleblowing, speaking most recently on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’ and the ‘Bottom Line’. Alongside Helen’s current role, as CEO of rare disease charity Cavernoma Alliance UK, she is also an Advisory Council member of the whistleblowing charity Protect.
When We Speak: Available to stream on Amazon Prime
What is it like to be an openly autistic CEO: Blog for the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO)
About John Higgins:
John is the Research Fellow at GameShift. Based on his original research, mainly alongside Professor Megan Reitz, he has written and spoken widely around the themes of speaking truth to power and workplace activism. Their articles can be found in the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review and in many other leading journals. Their work has resulted in a major TED talk, with around 1.5m views, and in interviews with Brenee Brown and Evan Davis. They are currently looking at what it takes for people to step off the treadmill of busyness and pay attention to what they take for granted about what counts as ‘business as usual’. The latest edition of their 2019 book ‘Speak Up: Say what needs to be said and hear what needs to be heard’, will be coming out in the spring of 2024.