Leading with Strengths and ADHD in the Workplace with Rita Ramakrishnan
Release Date: 09/08/2025
Hacking Your ADHD
As many of us navigate shifting routines and rising expectations right now, it’s a perfect time to revisit this affirming conversation with Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright. Together we unpack what it means to stop fighting yourself, lean into your strengths, and build supportive systems that make life feel lighter, not harder. A great listen if you need a dose of ADHD-friendly self-compassion this week. If you’d like to send me a question answer on the show feel free to head over to and click the orange button Support me on Ask me a question on my Find the show note at This...
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Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today, I’m joined by Skye Waterson for another Research Recap. In this series, we explore a single research paper—what it says, how it was conducted, and what practical takeaways we can find. In this episode, we’re discussing a paper called “Shifting the Focus: Exploring Video Accessibility Strategies and Challenges for People with ADHD.” It sounds a little out there—and honestly, this paper is a bit...
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Hey team! This week, I’m talking with Jami Shapiro, ADHD coach, founder of Silver Linings Transitions, and host of the Grandma Has ADHD podcast. Jami has also recently published her book This Explains So Much, which dives into the world of undiagnosed ADHD in people over 50. Jami brings a wealth of experience from her work helping older adults downsize and organize their lives. In our conversation, we dig into what aging looks like with ADHD, from memory changes to social isolation, and how curiosity, compassion, and the power of community can make a huge difference. We get into the...
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Hey team! Today I’m talking with Dr. Tracy Dalgleish (Dall Gleesh), a clinical psychologist, couples therapist, and the author of You, Your Husband & His Mother. She has spent almost two decades helping couples get unstuck from repeating the same old arguments and start building relationships that actually work in real life. And she also runs her own podcast, Dear Dr. Tracy. In our conversation, we get into how our relationships don’t exist in a vacuum, how family expectations shape our decisions, and why it’s so important to be on the same team with your partner, especially when...
info_outlineHacking Your ADHD
Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I’m your host, William Curb. On this podcast, we dig into tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today I’m joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series. In this series, we usually look at a single research paper, but today we’re covering two and pulling out practical takeaways. We’ll discuss two papers on ADHD strengths: Strengths and Challenges to Embrace Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Employment: A Systematic Review, and Paradoxical Career Strengths and Successes of ADHD Adults: An Evolving...
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This week I’m joined by Amy Marie Hann, better known online as The Activated ADHD Mama. Amy’s an ADHD coach, community leader, and author who specializes in helping ADHD moms wrangle the boring, repetitive tasks that tend to bury us, things like dishes, meal planning, and remembering to call in prescription refills. In our conversation, we talk about why traditional productivity advice often doesn’t work for ADHD brains and why these mundane tasks can create so much stress and shame. We dig into some of Amy’s strategies that helps people build realistic systems to make those things...
info_outlineHacking Your ADHD
Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today, I’m joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series, where we take a look at a single research paper—what it says, how it was conducted, and what practical takeaways we can find. In this episode, we’re discussing a 2022 paper titled “TikTok and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study of Social Media Content Quality.” It got quite a bit of coverage when it came out,...
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Hey Team! Today I’m joined by Alex Bellitter, Senior Manager of Coaching at Shimmer, an ADHD coaching platform that’s guided over 75,000 sessions. If this sounds a bit familiar, I also did an interview with Shimmer’s CEO, Chris Wang, last year - but of course in this episode, we’re covering a lot more and while Shimmer is mentioned it certainly isn’t the focus of what we’re talking about here. But back to who we’re talking with today. Alex holds a Master’s in Psychology and is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. She’s passionate about building a...
info_outlineHacking Your ADHD
Welcome to Hacking Your ADHD. I’m your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics, and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today I’m joined by Skye Waterson for our Research Recap series, and we’re talking about a paper called Creative Thinking in Adolescence with Attention Hyperactivity Disorder. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper, dive into what it says, how it’s conducted, and try to find any practical takeaways for you. As this is a new series, if you have thoughts or feedback, let me know — you can...
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Hey Team! This week I’m talking with Kara Cruz, a licensed marriage and family therapist and Certified Perinatal Mental Health Professional with over 15 years of experience supporting women through life transitions. Kara’s work focuses on the intersection of ADHD and reproductive mental health—helping women navigate the complex terrain of hormones, identity, and self-trust. In our conversation, Kara and I dig into how ADHD symptoms can change and intensify across different hormonal stages - puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause - and what that means for real-life functioning....
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This week, I’m talking with Rita Ramakrishnan, a seasoned strategic executive and leadership coach with over 15 years of experience. Diagnosed with both ADHD and Autism Spectrum during her undergrad years, Rita reframed what could have been limitations into strengths and now looks to uplift other neurodivergent women in leadership roles.
Currently, she is pursuing a master's degree in neurodivergent leadership at the University of Pennsylvania, intensifying her expertise in coaching and organizational strategy tailored to neurodivergent individuals.
In our conversation, we cover everything from identifying when you’re dysregulated (and what to do about it) to designing teams that play to everyone’s strengths. Rita walks us through practical tools like outsourcing strategically, tracking your energy to uncover strengths, and building a leadership charter so teams can work more effectively together. It’s a conversation about leading authentically, creating systems that work for your brain, and how to advocate for your needs without falling into people-pleasing traps.
If you'd life to follow along on the show notes page you can find that at HackingYourADHD.com/243
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y835cnrk
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This Episode's Top Tips
1. Try creating a Minimum Viable Routine - your baseline routine that consists of the bare minimum you need in place to function. The point of an MVR is to take those non-negotiables and lock them in, either with automation, outsourcing, or simple systems. That way, when ADHD throws a curveball, you still have the essentials covered.
2. Instead of only measuring productivity by what gets checked off a to-do list, try looking at how you feel after activities. Track when you walk away from a meeting or task feeling energized, and when you walk away feeling drained.
3. Rejection sensitivity hits hard for many folks with ADHD. A short email reply, a period at the end of a text, or even a coworker sounding rushed can feel like a personal rejection. Rita’s advice is to deliberately separate yourself from the situation and try to depersonalize feedback. This reframing can help shift from identity-based thinking (like “I’m the problem”) to more situation-based thinking (“this may be tough, but it’s fixable”).