The Employee You're About to Fire Might Be Your Most Brilliant One

You've seen it. Maybe you've even been the manager in this situation.

An employee who is clearly smart. 

Sharp instincts, creative ideas, unexpected connections between concepts. 

But they're also late to meetings, they interrupt constantly, they go deep on one thing and drop the ball on another, or they seem disengaged in exactly the moments you need them present.

And your instinct, if you're being honest, might be to manage them out.

But what if that employee isn't a performance problem? What if they're one of your highest-potential leaders and your organization just hasn't built the conditions for them to succeed?

According to Otto Siegel, a neurodivergent coach and educator who has spent decades working with gifted and neurodivergent leaders, this scenario plays out in organizations every day. And the cost to the individual and the company is enormous.

The Label Is Not the Whole Story

ADHD. Autism. AUDHD. Dyslexia. These are the labels we use, but Otto Siegel is quick to challenge what we think we know about them.

"Every ADHD is significantly different," Siegel explains. "It's like a fingerprint. It's not the same at all. And behind every ADHD label, there's a personal secret."

That personal secret — the unique combination of how a neurodivergent person thinks, learns, connects, and creates — is often exactly what made you hire them in the first place. The problem isn't the person. It's that most managers never take the time to understand what's actually underneath the label.

The behaviors that frustrate you such as the interrupting, the hyperfocus on low-priority items, the difficulty with routine tasks are symptoms of a brain that is wired differently, not a character flaw or a lack of effort. And the leaders who figure out how to unlock what's underneath those behaviors consistently describe it as a competitive advantage.

Be a Detective, Not a Judge

So, what does good management of neurodivergent talent actually look like?

Siegel's answer is disarmingly simple: ask.

"Be the detective for a while as a leader," he says. "Find out what makes that person tick. There was a reason he or she was hired to begin with there might be a different way to unfold this talent that you didn't expect."

That means having a real conversation. Not a performance improvement plan conversation.

A genuine, curious one:

• How do you work best?

• What conditions help you focus?

• Tell me about your history with this — how have you navigated it in past roles?

• What does success look like for you when you're at your best?

These aren't accommodations conversations. They're human ones. And Siegel notes that simply asking, showing genuine interest in someone as a person rather than just a function, "already connects us to people, and that is priceless."

The irony is that this is exactly what great managers should be doing with every employee. Neurodivergent talent just makes it non-negotiable.

What You're Likely Misreading

A few common behaviors that managers frequently misinterpret and what's actually happening:

Interrupting. For many people with ADHD, the end of a sentence isn't always clearly signaled. They're not being rude or dismissive. They're engaged, often intensely so, and their brain is ready to contribute before the verbal cue arrives.

Intensity. Neurodivergent leaders often bring a level of passion and focus that can read as overwhelming in a conference room. What you're often seeing is what Siegel calls "suppressed intensity,” the force of a mind that cares deeply and thinks fast. That's not a problem to manage down. It's energy to channel.

Inconsistency. A person with ADHD may be extraordinary on a project that captures their interest and visibly disengaged on one that doesn't. This isn't laziness. Siegel points to a principle that shapes all of his work: the biggest torture for the brain is boredom. For highly intelligent people, this is especially acute. If you want their best work, connect them to problems that are genuinely interesting to them.

Seeming disorganized. The external presentation of chaos often masks an internal logic that is sophisticated, even if it doesn't fit your process. Before concluding they can't manage their workload, find out how they manage it when left to their own systems.

The Masking Problem No One Talks About

Here's something most managers never see: the performance cost of masking.

Many neurodivergent employees spend the entire workday performing neurotypicality, suppressing their natural instincts, forcing themselves into communication styles that don't fit them, monitoring and self-correcting in real time just to appear "normal." By the time they get home, they're exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't fix.

"The more intelligent the person is, the worse it gets," Siegel warns, "because they can mask with more intensity. They have more intellectual potential to rationalize everything."

What this means for you as a manager: the employee who seems fine on the surface may be quietly depleting themselves just to function in your environment. And over time, that depletion shows up as disengagement, absenteeism, health issues, or resignation.

You may never see it coming because they were very good at hiding it.

The solution isn't to demand they stop masking. It's to create an environment where they don't have to.

What That Environment Actually Looks Like

You don't need a neurodiversity training program or an HR overhaul to start. You need a few intentional shifts:

Normalize difference. When a team member tells you how their brain works, treat it as useful information not a liability disclosure. The more psychological safety exists, the less energy goes into masking and the more goes into actual work.

Design for flexibility. Rigid processes, back-to-back meetings, open-plan offices with no quiet zones — these are environments that systematically disadvantage neurodivergent thinkers. Small structural changes (async communication options, flexible deep-work blocks, written agendas before meetings) can dramatically change what's possible.

Measure outcomes, not optics. If the work is excellent, the path to it doesn't have to look conventional. Releasing your attachment to how someone works — as long as they're delivering — opens the door to contribution you'd never see otherwise.

Have the conversation before it becomes a crisis. Don't wait until you're building a performance case to get curious about someone. The leaders who retain and develop neurodivergent talent build those relationships early.

The Bottom Line for Managers

There are people on your team right now — possibly some of your most talented — who are working twice as hard as everyone else just to be seen as average. Not because they lack capability. Because the environment wasn't built for how they think.

The managers who figure this out don't just retain great people. They unlock them.

And the employees who were almost managed out? They often become the most loyal, highest-performing, most innovative contributors on the team — because someone finally bothered to understand them.

That someone can be you.

🎧 There's So Much More in the Full Episode — Listen to Work Unscripted

This blog focused on what managers can do  but the full conversation with Otto Siegel goes much deeper. In the complete episode, you'll also hear:

• Why ADHD isn't a disorder — and the fundamental flaw in how we've been framing it for decades

• The Genius Profile — a tool that maps 12 distinct intelligences, 6 learning styles, values, behavioral styles, and strengths to give you a blueprint of who you actually are

• Why IQ is an outdated measure — its surprising military origins, and what a more complete picture of intelligence really looks like

• The long-term health cost of masking — and why the warning signs are showing up in your body long before you recognize them

• What to say at work if you're neurodivergent — a practical framework for sharing how your brain works without over-labeling yourself

• A message directly to executives who have spent their careers masking, compensating, and wondering if they're really as capable as their results suggest

  
  

🎙️Listen to the full episode of ADHD Masking at Work is Quietly Wrecking Your Career with Otto Siegel.