ADHD Traits Of Successful Entrepreneurs
Research shows us where ADHD traits and successful entrepreneurship overlap
I’ve been a successful entrepreneur since 2010, and only found out in October 2019 that I have ADHD.
When I first joined Medium a few months ago, I wrote about how my ADHD has made me a successful entrepreneur. That story focused on the non-linear way I became self-employed (do people with ADHD do anything in a linear fashion? I think not), and how I adapted to major changes that arose due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
To follow-up on my previous piece, I want to explore some traits associated with ADHD that can contribute to becoming a highly successful entrepreneur, while also pointing out some potential risks, and how to (hopefully) avoid them.
First, the bad news
There has been quite a bit of research in the past few years about ADHD and Entrepreneurship Orientation (referred to as OE in the scientific literature). Unfortunately, results are nuanced, and not as straightforward as we would like — as usual.
A lot of ADHD qualities can pose both a benefit and a limitation, so the better we understand our neurobiology and how our symptoms impact us, the more we’re able to harness the positive and mitigate the…
