Why I'm Talking About My ADHD: Turning Challenges into Superpowers

I have ADHD. And Major Depressive Disorder. Which is a special kind of hell - your ADHD brain is desperately craving dopamine and things to be interested in, while depression is like, "nope, nothing is interesting, and nothing matters."

But here's the thing - I've navigated life for decades with undiagnosed ADHD and MDD. And not just navigated - I've excelled. Turns out I'm resilient as hell.

Growing up, math was a huge challenge for me - not uncommon for ADHD brains. Yet I scored a 750 on my GMAT, landing in the 85-88th percentile for the Quantitative section - competing against a sea of finance and engineering majors as a social science graduate.

But what makes me prouder? One summer in college, I taught math to middle schoolers through Breakthrough Collaborative. I poured my creativity into making engaging class materials, transferring my hard-earned belief that anyone can master math. After the program, one of my students told me, "Ms. Li, I used to not like math. But now I love it!"

Organization and project management? These were complete mysteries to me growing up. ADHD made keeping track of details feel like trying to hold water in my hands, with half my fingers missing. Yet today, I'm known as 'the most organized' by other teams. I've developed skills that helped me launch complex product experiences while coordinating dozens of stakeholders.

For years, I was the sole product manager for two brands - where others had several PMs per brand. Last year, I was given an annual goal of one or two launches. I delivered twelve, contributing over $10M in annual margins, while owning the entire product lifecycle from ideation to launch and monitoring. In a highly matrixed organization where delays are the norm, I've learned how to consistently launch products on time.

My journey into understanding my neurodiversity started with frustration, but it's become something entirely different. I've been deeply inspired by others in the ADHD community who've shared their stories openly and encouraged me to see its strengths. Did you know Bill Gates has ADHD? These aren't limitations - they're different operating systems with some serious built-in features.

So here's what got me thinking: If I can excel this dramatically in areas that challenge my ADHD brain - what am I capable of in the areas where my ADHD is actually a strength? What have I achieved using my natural ability to connect the dots, generate unique insights, and having vision, empathy, and creativity?

The whole reason that I’m telling the world that I have ADHD and depression is not for sympathy or a pat on the back - it’s because I’ve recently realized that not only am I resilient as hell, but I actually have superpowers.

Because here's what I've noticed: My brain sees patterns others miss. I generate insights that transform how businesses think. I have deep empathy for user frustrations because I've lived with cognitive friction my whole life. And I can envision possibilities that others might overlook because they're too close to existing systems.

Let me share some stories that show this pattern:

A product vision in minutes

At a networking event, I met someone from a health tech startup. After hearing their company's challenges, I outlined a product vision that aligned with their market needs. He was shocked - what I'd conceptualized in minutes had taken their team nine months to develop.

This wasn't luck. It's how my brain naturally connects dots and my ability to empathize with customer needs.

Defining a new industry standard

During an MBA project with Waste Management, I encountered a situation that would become familiar in my career - seeing a solution that wasn't yet obvious to others.

Our goal was to provide recommendations on how to improve recycling behaviors, so that people would recycle more accurately. At the time, recycling bins were cluttered with paragraphs of fine print, listing various plastic types and RIC codes in technical language. Our research included a study from How2Recycle that confirmed these codes confused people, though their proposed solution focused on product labeling with stickers on recyclables.

While my team focused on marketing campaigns, I kept coming back to the user experience - that moment of decision standing in front of a recycling bin. I managed to include a few paragraphs about easier labeling in our final report, but at the end of our presentation, I shared something I'd been holding back: What if we just used simple, everyday terms on the bins themselves? "Cans, bottles, paper" - language anyone could understand at a glance.

It wasn't in our formal deliverables. There's no document proving I made this suggestion.

But the next year, I saw a Waste Management prototype recycling bin on campus with exactly that kind of simplified labeling. Today, it's become an industry standard.

From Development Shop to Strategic Partner

Early in my career as a marketing apprentice at Poetic Systems, I saw a different future for what was then essentially a development shop building mobile apps and websites for small businesses and startups. I recommended they reposition themselves as management consultants who happen to use digital solutions to drive business growth - moving them from tactical execution to strategic partnership.

Years later, while at NRG Energy, I found myself working with Poetic Systems again. They had evolved into exactly the kind of strategic partner I had envisioned, complete with a new identity as a management consulting firm and major clients like NRG and Facebook.

Rethinking Customer Journeys with Digital Experiences

When I was a digital product manager in our Reliant innovation team, I saw an opportunity to shift our digital experience strategy. While many were focused on acquisition, I recommended centering our approach on renewals and retention - essentially "recycling" or renewing customers in their journey.

The recommendation resonated beyond my immediate scope; it was picked up by our Director of Digital Transformation and incorporated into their broader strategic vision for our digital organization. Years later, our online account management platform and mobile app have become top services driving customer retention across many of our brands, contributing up to hundreds of dollars in Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) for each customer that uses them. 

Like many of my insights, this wasn't about claiming credit but about seeing patterns in customer behavior that could create lasting value.

Visualizing the Future of Energy 

This pattern - seeing solutions that might seem obvious in hindsight but require breaking from established practices - would repeat throughout my career. At NRG Energy, while working on an EV charging initiative as part of our Virtual Power Plant strategy, I created a mind map visualization that reframed our approach.

Instead of focusing solely on individual assets we could manage, like electric vehicles vs chargers, I drew a branching tree diagram that emphasized the importance of the "trunk" - the core home energy and wholesale market power management logic. The visualization explored different ways to manage EV charging - from direct vehicle connections to EV chargers, APIs, and vehicle-to-grid systems - but its real power was in showing how these elements connected to our core energy management capabilities.

This way of framing the ecosystem resonated with our team lead, who adapted elements of my whiteboard brainstorm into a more formal organizational chart for leadership presentations.

Later, I saw a similar visual structure appear in our senior leadership's investor day presentations on VPP - not an exact copy, but clearly influenced by that original thinking about how to frame our various connection points in the EV ecosystem.

Parallel Visions in GenAI

I was admittedly late to the generative AI party, only starting my journey this year. But that makes what happened next even more interesting: After taking a course in early 2024, I developed a vision for Echo AI, a customer feedback and market analysis tool.

Months later, at the Lenny and Friends Summit, I discovered Enterpret - a company founded by Varun Sharma, known for his work at Amplitude and LinkedIn, that was essentially bringing a similar vision to life.

While my contribution was limited to blog posts and whiteboards, what excited me was the fact that I could quickly grasp this new technology and envision opportunities that aligned with what established tech leaders were building. It shows how quickly my mind can grasp new technologies and spot promising applications.

What's Next?

These patterns of insight - whether reimagining recycling bin labels, repositioning a development shop as a strategic consultancy, or visualizing complex energy ecosystems - aren't just random successes. They're examples of how my brain naturally works. I see connections others might miss because I process information differently. I question established practices not to be contrarian, but because my mind naturally explores alternative possibilities.

I'm sharing this not just for myself, but because I'm excited about what's possible when we embrace neurodiversity in technology and innovation. When I look at the future of generative AI, I don't just see productivity tools: I see the potential for technology to truly transform how we work and enhance different ways of thinking. I envision AI assistants that could help someone with ADHD stay organized while preserving their creative energy, generate real-time meeting visualizations to drive alignment and capture non-linear thinking, and reduce cognitive friction in ways that feel natural to diverse minds.

To companies looking for innovation: Neurodiversity isn't just about inclusion. It's also an asset. When properly managed and given a supportive environment, it can thrive into a competitive edge.

Different ways of thinking are exactly what we need to solve complex problems and envision new possibilities. My journey shows that someone neurospicy can excel at traditional skills through determination (like that 750 GMAT score) while also bringing their unique strengths to transform how we approach challenges.

So for those of us who ‘think different’ - how has your way of thinking shaped your professional journey? What possibilities do you see for GenAI and the future of life and work?