UK 
United States
Caroline Bixby, Chief People Officer, Christie Group Plc, received her ADHD diagnosis in 2021 – a point in her life when she was already fairly well established in her HR career. Knowing what she is dealing with has helped her make sense of her at times scatter-gun decision making and her ‘sixth-sense’ secret weapon - she talks to HR Grapevine about leading an HR function as a neurodivergent professional.
Bixby had already held a number of impressive HR positions when she was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in 2021.
She is not alone; the number of ADHD diagnoses is on the rise. Data from the Lancet and NICE give an adult incident rate of 3-4% which is a total estimate of 2.6 million people in the UK with ADHD. Since 2020, just a year before Bixby added to the data, reports from the ADHD Foundation showed there to be a 40% increase in adults seeking an ADHD diagnosis in the UK.
‘In the early years – fitting in was hard’
“In my early career, it was harder to fit in and meet expectations. I always knew I was different, and I desperately wanted to shine and be good at what I did - who doesn’t?”
Bixby carried on but a lack of confidence continued to gnaw away at her self-esteem playing havoc in ways that she didn’t realise at the time. “I believe this lack of confidence and real sense of feeling a bit lost played out in my career history. If you look at my CV, you will see that a typical role for me lasted just over two years. During the first six months of the role, I excelled, but the amount of focus and time I had to devote to make this happen meant that I became burnt out and made mistakes along the way.”
At the time, Bixby didn’t know the reasons behind her continuous job hopping. The City & Guilds annual Neurodiversity report shows that for many there is just not enough support to start out in a role, and a bad start can be the death knell to longevity. According to their findings, 35% of neurodivergent respondents had no onboarding support when starting their jobs at all.
The importance of having a support network has never been lost on Bixby either even if she didn’t realise the fundamental role they played before she was diagnosed.
