Ask HN: Leadership resources for individuals on the autism spectrum? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Leadership resources for individuals on the autism spectrum?

I've heard it said that a large proportion of developers are on the autism/Aspergers spectrum. I've been a developer for 13 years, and I'm on the spectrum myself.

I want to move into a leadership role at some point, and I'm sure others in my shoes would like to as well. But as you can imagine, a lot of the skills required for leadership aren't areas of natural strength for us -- social interactions, communicating, understanding others, etc. However, I'm confident that we can learn to communicate well if someone who knows our limitations can sort of "descend to our level" or "explain like I'm five", so to speak. We are smart; we just think differently.

Do you have any resource suggestions on leadership (books, videos, blogs, etc.), but oriented towards folks on the spectrum?

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I have had experience with someone who wanted to do this and it didn't go well. A subject matter expert wanted to be team leader because that's what he thought career progress was. Within a few weeks the team collapsed.

Creativity, unconventional thinking, hyperfocus etc is required as support to conventional leaders more than in being leaders. It's not just about improving communication. You have to be much more social, political, be good at handling stress, people have to want to work for you etc and you have to do it competing against experienced people for who that stuff is natural.

The way ahead maybe to think up a role that fits your strengths and then pitch it to higher ups, more than trying to fit into roles that are conventional. Just remember that conventional roles haven't been designed with your strengths in mind.

About 8 years ago, I was put in charge of a small internal project (a custom test harness). The project itself went very well - it’s still adding value and being used. However, I made some significant leadership mistakes (which I don’t want to go into detail on here).

So I appreciate that there’s a lot at stake, that my natural abilities can’t and won’t suffice, and that I’m starting with a sizeable deficit. Autism is a developmental disorder—perhaps even a disability—but I believe that with the right help, enough hard work and determination, an attitude of wanting to serve others, and enough natural ability in another area of strength that could stand-in where I’m naturally weak, I could learn enough to lead — perhaps even enough to do so successfully as a project leader.

Ideally (and impossibly, I know), I’d love to have a very patient coach to spend months or years with me explaining things. But next-best would be information dense resources on leadership written for high-functioning people with autism/asperger’s. I’m hoping something like that exists.

Temple Grandin does talks about this stuff but it's more along the lines of awareness raising. Join that mailing list...might be a good place to find people that are trying the same thing.

Ironically where I worked, the person had it easy getting the Leadership position. They too had serious experience, expertise in a subject, had produced products that had benefited the company. So upper mgmt approved it despite internal objections being raised about interpersonal comms, a track record of dealing badly with others in stressful situations etc. They actually made the person report to me, because I had some experience managing the person in the past and I said no. Told the person what issues would arise, which resulted in a HR complaint against me. My case to mgmt was simple - if you guys think this is going to work, you need someone who is psychologically knowledgable about the condition for the person to report to. That's the healthiest option and we all knew there was no one around like that. So they made an even bigger mistake of giving the person a team and not having to report to anyone. It blew up in dramatic fashion and I did get an apology from the person later for mistaking what my point had been.

You have to be clear about what leadership is and why you fit. The answer shouldn't be well thats the next rung I see on the org chart.

Since leadership requires lots of human <-> human interactions, involving empathy and other illogical behaviors, are you sure this is the role you should seek?

This is an honest question. Suppose someone with not-so-good skills in arts wants to pursue a career as an artist, s/he would have quite a steep learning curve ahead.

Speaking as someone on the autism spectrum (though I don't like to identify myself this way) having leadership experience, my personal life improved after I was able to detach myself from people management.

There are lots of career paths available which skip people management.

I already am and have been in various leadership roles at my church - volunteer groups, a bible study, etc. I seem to do OK in those contexts, and I think it's largely because of a years-long, intense leadership training internship I went through in my late teens at the same church, as well as an incredibly supportive and fun social group I was with for years.

Much of operating in social contexts involves understanding roles and social expectations in those roles. That understanding doesn't come naturally, but I have found that I can pick it up.

So I do have some confidence that I could eventually lead well at work with enough of a commitment to learning what I don't naturally pick up.

I write about autism and employment https://www.spectroomz.com/ and very interested in the domain (would love to talk about this specific topic of moving to leadership)

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