Neurodiverse voices and neurodiverse thinking can help companies utilise their efficiency, be more curious and more creative, according to a keynote presentation at MFA EX 2025 Sydney.
OMD Australia chief strategy officer Rob Frost told a room of 1,000 people at Randwick Racecourse that his diagnosis with ADHD and autism three years ago helped him understand himself and neurodivergent possibility.
He believes that neurodivergence is an "untapped superpower not just within the industry, but the majority of the country".
“It changed every aspect of my life, my relationship with work, colleagues, friends and family, even with myself.”
There’s been a 450% increase in the number of people diagnosed with ADHD, according to Frost.
One in 40 people are anticipated to be autistic.
Frost said that a part of the brain called the default mode network, or the dmn, works differently for neurodivergent and neurotypical.
“It's responsible for your broad, imaginative thinking, your world of creation, ideas and creativity," he said.
“It's also the part that's responsible for daydreaming, which is why when you talk to someone with ADHD, they might daydream.
“For neurotypical people, this part of the brain only lights up when another part of the brain is engaged in something.
“If you've got ADHD, there's a really high chance that it's working at the same time as you're in focus mode, but in concentration or task completion mode.
"What that means is that they have the ability to take on a normal task and do it in a more imaginative or interesting way.”
Neurotypical processing follows a top-down approach, while neurodivergent people follow a bottom-up processing where the same stimuli is taken and pulled into the brain for processing and interpretation at the same time.
Frost described neurodivergent brains as ‘Ferrari engines with bicycle brakes,' capable of being more creative, curious and passionate than neurotypical.
“Neurodivergent people have better hyperfocus, empathy and stronger intelligence. They're better at pattern recognition, emotional intuition, originality and innovation.”
“The problem is those bicycle brakes, which means that we haven't grown up with the ability to utilise those good traits.
“There’s a lot that can be done to help.
“First is the right training. Taking medication, brain training or mental mindfulness.
“But neurodivergent people also need to have the right culture in place, who are going to allow us to break through the status quo and do it our own way.
“Secondly, we are living in a neurotypical world. Everything was built for neurotypical brains. A study has shown that about half of the disabilities that neurodivergent people experience in the world are from friction of living in a neurotypical world, not ones that are inherent to us.”
When wanting to show the potential positive influence of neurodivergent traits in the workforce, Frost surveyed 136 people at MFA Ex on what traits would best impact their jobs.
He then had 43 'guinea pigs' follow a two-week routine, where each of the three groups were given a morning activity to do before work, behaviour activity to do during the day and reflections during the evening.
For the pattern recognition group, it was a daily word puzzle, looking out for patterns throughout the day in anomalies and journal writing.
The curiosity group had to read, put a social media block on their phone and write a curiosity journal.
Lastly, the focus group completed daily meditation, have distraction free periods for 25 minutes and journal.
“The exercises they did were effective. The pattern recognition group got better at identifying patterns of work, curiosity group got better at curiosity and the focus group were more focused," Frost said.
“Most of these groups also said that their overall work output got better.
“What it says is that neurodivergent people and neurodivergent minds should be essential for everything.
"They can also help their teams think differently and approach things in new ways."
Frost said that part of "daring to change" is supporting your team to think differently and openly about neurodivergence.
“Take a second to read about neurodivergence,” he said.
“If you know someone who is openly neurodivergent in your team, please make sure they are happy talking about it and ask them how they want to work.
“Finally, try some of those brain training exercises, because you might just find that you get a little bit better at what you do every day.”
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