For years, many neurodivergent professionals have spent enormous energy trying to decode unspoken workplace expectations, masking their natural tendencies, and wondering why traditional employment feels so exhausting. But what happens when we embrace the brains we've got instead of trying to mind-read what's expected of us, and start building businesses that work WITH our wiring instead of against it?

In this milestone 50th episode of Thinkydoers, Sara sits down with serial entrepreneur Peter Shankman—creator of five startups with three exits, founder of Help a Reporter Out (now Source of Sources), and co-founder of Mental Capital Consulting. Peter shares his journey from spending decades believing something was wrong with him to building multiple successful companies powered by his ADHD brain.

Whether you're a shy introvert wondering how to gain visibility, a neurodivergent professional considering entrepreneurship, or a leader trying to understand how to build truly neuroinclusive workplaces, this conversation will challenge everything you thought you knew about "fitting in."

Episode Highlights:

• How accidentally falling into PR and media led Peter to discover that the only way he could truly thrive was by making his own rules.
• Why decades of being told you’re “disruptive” can feel like a burden—and how unlearning that narrative helped Peter see his neurodivergent brain as an asset, not a liability.
• Media visibility for introverts: why letting press coverage do the talking can be a game-changer when self-promotion feels impossible.
• What every company should understand about neurodiversity—and why resistance to change is holding workplaces back.
• Don’t hide your different brain: Peter’s powerful message about embracing neurodiversity without shame—it doesn’t have to define your whole identity, but it shouldn’t be your secret either.

Key Concepts Explored:

• Accidental career in PR and media: How starting out in an AOL chatroom led Peter to discover that he thrives when he creates his own rules.
• Entrepreneurship as a fit for neurodivergent brains: Why traditional employment can feel restrictive and self-employment allows your wiring to become an asset.
• The “broken” narrative: Unlearning decades of being told you’re disruptive and embracing neurodivergence as a benefit rather than a liability.
• Media visibility for introverts: How earned media and press coverage can do the talking for you when self-promotion feels impossible.
• Building neuroinclusive workplaces: Why companies resist change and what they can gain by embracing employees who think differently.
• Don’t hide your different brain: Embracing neurodiversity without shame—it doesn’t have to be your entire identity, but it shouldn’t be your secret either.
• Creating your own sandbox: Designing your environment and work to meet your unique strengths and needs.

Common Questions Answered:

• How can I turn neurodivergence into an asset in my career or business?
• Why do traditional workplaces often feel limiting or frustrating for neurodivergent people?
• How can media visibility help introverts or high-expertise thinkers get noticed without self-promotion?
• What does it take to create a neuroinclusive workplace that supports different ways of thinking?
• How do I embrace my “different brain” without shame or feeling like it defines me?

Notable Quotes:

"If you didn’t know what to do, fake it and figure it out" – Peter Shankman [00:04:00]

"The majority of us have been told our whole lives that we’re broken. It took me 20 years to realize I could make my brain...

You're not alone. Many of us leave corporate environments that don't fit our neurodivergent, introverted, or strategically-wired brains, only to recreate the same extractive patterns in our own businesses. But what if there was another way?

In this episode, I sit down with Maggie Patterson, creator of BS-Free Business and author of "Staying Solo," to explore why so much business advice isn't designed for businesses like yours. We dive into Maggie's "real-life rule" — if it doesn't work for your real life (with all your caregiving responsibilities, mental health considerations, and actual capacity constraints), it doesn't work in your business.

Discover why being strategically wired can be a detriment as an employee but an asset as a solo business owner, learn how to build around your actual capacity instead of your maximum capacity, and find out why the best work you'll do might just be the work that feels easy.

Episode Highlights:

• Why so much small business advice recreates the same toxic patterns we tried to leave behind in corporate life
• How manipulative marketing tactics—like income claims and pain-point selling—harm solo business owners
• Why neurodivergent and introverted people often thrive as entrepreneurs after struggling in traditional workplaces
• The “real-life rule”: building your business around actual capacity, not fantasy capacity
• How being strategically wired can feel like a liability in corporate life but becomes a superpower in solo business
• Why the most sustainable businesses are often the simplest—lean, drama-free, and built to last

Key Concepts Explored:

• The "real-life rule": building business around actual capacity and constraints rather than fantasy versions of ourselves
• The neurodivergent advantage in solo business: creating accommodations for yourself that corporate environments can't provide
• Strategic brain blindness: how strategically-wired people undervalue their most marketable assets
• The employee detriment of strategic thinking: why strategic minds struggle in corporate but thrive as entrepreneurs
• The paradox of easy work: why the highest-value, most enjoyable work should feel effortless when you're truly skilled
• Income claim marketing and pain point manipulation vs. empathetic connection in business communication
• Lesser of evils decision-making: sustainable business choices for people with anxiety, ADHD, and mental health challenges
• Simplicity as competitive advantage: lean operations, minimal services, and building incrementally rather than perfectly
• Right-sizing dreams and expectations to prevent business-induced breakdown during caregiving and life challenges
• Neurodivergent entrepreneurship as affirmation: self-employment as refuge for those who don't fit traditional work culture

Common Questions Answered:

• How can I build a business that works with my ADHD/anxiety/neurodivergence?
• Why do I struggle with traditional business advice?
• Is self-employment viable for introverts and strategic thinkers?
• How do I build for my real capacity instead of my maximum capacity?
• Why does my strategic thinking feel undervalued in corporate environments?

Notable Quotes:

"So much of online business is built on this fantasy version of yourself—someone with endless time, endless energy, endless capacity. And it just doesn’t exist." – Maggie Patterson [00:05:00]

"We left corporate because it didn’t fit—but then we build businesses that are just as extractive, just as harmful, just as unsustainable." – Maggie Patterson [00:07:00]

"If it doesn’t work in your real life—with your caregiving, your...

Charles Spinosa spent decades as both a Shakespeare professor and management consultant, giving him a unique lens on what separates true leadership from good management. His approach isn't about influence or operational excellence—it's about moral artistry. It’s about the courage to ask "what always goes wrong?" and then take the risks necessary to create something beautiful instead.

Episode Highlights:

• The two questions that define “masterpiece leadership:” What always goes wrong in your industry, and what would you love to do instead?
• How to distinguish between dissenters (who sharpen your vision) and betrayers (who undermine it).
• Why naysayers are often a sign that you’re taking the right kinds of risks.
• The neurodivergent advantage: spotting injustices and anomalies others overlook.
• Practical strategies for pushing through despair when moral risks don’t pay off right away.
• Justice sensitivity as a leadership strength—and how it positions you to create businesses worth falling in love with.

Key Concepts Explored:

• Passion as a defining force that fuels resilience and long-term transformation
• The Two-Question Framework that separates masterpiece creators from managers
• Moral risk-taking: why changing norms will always feel “wrong” at first
• Betrayers vs. dissenters—and why dissent is essential for progress
• Truth-seeking platforms that go beyond psychological safety to real intellectual conflict
• Post-truth business culture and the limits of data without human truth
• Justice sensitivity as a leadership advantage for transformational change
• The neurodivergent edge in spotting anomalies and injustices others miss
• Moral artistry: making solutions not just right, but beautiful
• Fighting through despair and returning to core beliefs during setbacks
• Awe and wonder as signals you’re on the right path
• A systemic change strategy for moving from easy wins to bold transformations

Common Questions Answered:

• How can you take moral risks without putting your career in jeopardy?
• What separates managers from masterpiece creators?
• How should leaders handle team resistance to moral change?

Notable Quotes:

"What do people say leadership is these days? They say leadership is influence. I'm saying no. Leadership is taking moral risks to establish morally distinctive masterpieces. So I'm overturning a lot of norms. Of course there are gonna people who hate that." – Charles Spinosa [00:34:19]

"So if I'm not hearing from naysayers, I might not be taking as much risk as I think I am, or as much risk as I could in pursuing a defining passion. That hearing from critics and naysayers says you're doing something different enough for people to have naysaying to do about it." – Sara Lobkovich [00:33:18]

"Always be sensitive to what's going wrong in your organization. And don't forget to ask what you would love instead. And try to make the solutions you offer beautiful." – Charles Spinosa [00:32:57]

"So if you're a leader,...