Kirby, my Son with Autism, and the Neurodiversity Field, Taught Me Very Unexpected Leadership Lessons.

I didn’t learn my most important leadership lessons in boardrooms and workshops — I learned them from my son, Kirby, who has autism, and the field of neurodiversity. Kirby is still teaching me every day and I’d like to share these unexpected lessons with you.

Kirby was diagnosed with autism at 18 months old and he is now 23. Like many parents of neurodivergent children, I found myself on a journey I hadn’t expected. One filled with challenges, yes — but also with profound revelations.

Revelations about rhythms and new ways to look at the seven pillars of leadership: trust, adaptability, vision, courage, persistence, integrity, and inspiration.

Over these 23 years as Kirby’s dad, I’ve learned about communication that doesn’t follow convention but speaks volumes. About persistence that looks different but runs deep. About vision, empathy, clarity, and adaptability in ways I’d never understood before.

As a longtime CMO, strategist, coach, and advisor, I began to see things that shook many of the foundations of the very qualities that define extraordinary leadership. Kirby is teaching and I am learning. There's something new every day from his neurodivergent ways of thinking and being. One just has to listen and watch to understand and not to respond. Kirby is the ultimate example of ‘show don’t tell’ leadership.

These insights have led me to create Forged by Difference — a leadership training workshop and experience, a keynote on the topic, and now this blog series. I will be sharing seven posts in this series, one for each of the core leadership pillars, and also supporting and useful content and practical tools along the way.

I hope that you’ll subscribe to follow this unique series, enjoy new perspectives from neurodivergent minds, and share it with others whom might find it interesting.

Because leadership in today’s chaotic social, political, generational, and economic world requires new leadership rhythms. Ones that are adaptive and deeply human centered. I believe the neurodivergent community holds powerful and overlooked keys to unlocking them.

In this series, I’ll share how the lived insights of individuals with autism and other neurodiversities as well as the community surrounding them reveal new approaches and leadership rhythms that we all need today. You’ll come away with real tools, deeper awareness, and maybe even a different beat to lead from.

Want to learn more?

➡️ Click here to get direct updates on the new releases in this series, find out about the Forged by Difference workshop and keynote, or reach out about bringing it to your organization.

Let’s forge something better—together.