#_careers

Today’s successful entrepreneur might possess an MBA, well-connected parents and plenty of chutzpah, but there’s one often misunderstood component and it goes by the four-letter acronym known as ADHD.

Experts say Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurological condition shared by most entrepreneurs, some of whom have a knack for controlling their ADHD so they can foster success in their professional lives.

“I bet 80 per cent of entrepreneurs have it,” says Dr. Ned Hallowell, a U.S. psychiatrist and leading authority on ADHD. “Although way fewer have been diagnosed with it. Almost every entrepreneur I meet has it and when I talk to groups of entrepreneurs and describe ADHD they’re all jumping out of the chairs saying that’s us.”

Many of ADHD’s traits are those needed to win in the business world: creativity, high energy, risk tolerance, quick thinking, multi-tasking and resilience. Or, as Hallowell puts it, it’s like having a Ferrari engine for a brain with bicycle brakes. Some manage to harness its power, while others fail.

ADHD impairs how people manage their attention. Some people with ADHD flit from one thing to another, others hyper focus. What makes it tricky to diagnose is that many of its long list of symptoms can be thought of as extreme forms of normal behaviour. Ever been called a chatterbox? Told you have ants in your pants? Are you forever losing your keys and missing appointments? Do you blurt out your thoughts or do things before thinking them through? Do you spend a lot of time daydreaming or playing video games? Are you easily distracted, overly sensitive and forgetful? They may be signs of ADHD, or not.

Conservative estimates peg four to five per cent of the population as having the condition. It’s commonly believed to be a disorder that only children have, but adults do, too. And don’t let the acronyms fool you. ADHD and ADD are one and the same. Medical professionals generally refer to it as ADHD, while media, educators and entertainers seem to prefer ADD because it’s easier to say and remember. October is ADHD awareness month in Canada.

In good company

After years of struggling with anxiety and depression, scattered and impulsive thinking and being a workaholic, comedian Rick Green was diagnosed at 47, shortly after his son had been diagnosed with the disorder, a common occurrence as ADHD is highly hereditary.

“I went through life in a wrestling match with an invisible opponent,” says the now 62-year-old Green, who today uses his comedy to tell others about ADHD. “And the thing about that was I didn’t even know I was in a wrestling match. I just thought this is what life is like for everyone and it’s not.”

HealthGrove | Graphiq

An adrenaline junkie, he excelled as a comedic actor, writer and producer, co-creating and performing on The Red Green Show and TVO’s Prisoners of Gravity. Despite his success, fits of unproductiveness plagued his career.  Why he could never complete the many movie screenplays he’d started became apparent after his diagnosis. They would take months to write, an insufferable amount of time to the mind of someone with ADHD, who bore quickly and are easily distracted. Green excelled at skit writing, a comparatively quicker though equally challenging craft.

“Anything I was successful at I could make sense of and the things where I struggled, like trying to finish a screenplay, never happened,” says Green. “And I could see why and let go of the guilt and take all that energy to other projects.”

ADHD Awareness Month In 1 Minute from TotallyADD.com on Vimeo.

Green’s website TotallyADD.com is filled with witty videos, blogs, and webinars. In operation since 2009, the website is on track to hit two million visitors this year. A labour of love, Green says at one point, he had to sell his house to keep the website up and running. Books, DVDs and merchandise are for sale on the site, but there’s plenty of free information, including a coaching directory and chat forums. He also offers presentations, workshops and talks on ADHD and his currently performing his one-man show on the subject, titled My Award-Winning Coast-to-Coast Mental Disorder.

Other entrepreneurs who have the disorder include:

[Cameron Herold (Twitter)]

Cameron Herold has built three companies beyond the $100 million mark. Previously vice president of Ubarter.com and COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, he is now chief operating officer of coaching company BackPocket.

[Richard Branson (Time)]

Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson, who quit school at 15 and had trouble into his fifties distinguishing the difference between the terms gross and net, is a wealthy adventurer who leads an empire comprising more than 400 companies.

[David Neeleman (L), Chairman and CEO of JetBlue Airways, shows Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (R) some of the features of a JetBlue aircraft at O’Hare Airport October 26, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)]

JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman told ADDitude magazine: “If someone told me you could be normal or you could continue to have your ADD, I would take ADD.”

[Paul Orfalea, Todd Zeile and Natalie Orfalea during Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Annual Gala at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States. (Photo by E. Charbonneau/WireImage/Getty)]

Kinko’s founder Paul Orfalea struggled with severe dyslexia and ADD/ADHD as a child, which made it impossible to follow along in the classroom.

[Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, is seen after being presented the Lifetime Achievment Award by Princess Victoria of Sweden at the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Centenery Celebrations on May 12, 2006 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)]

Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish founder and chairman of IKEA stores, stated he adapted the inner workings of his business to compensate for his ADHD and dyslexia.

According to Forbes.com, research suggests that a tendency to be self-employed and an entrepreneur is dominant in those with ADHD.  A notable U.K. study showed a genetic link between a dopamine receptor gene variation associated with ADHD and the tendency to be an entrepreneur. Sensation seeking, common in ADHD, is more common among entrepreneurs than in the general population and anecdotal reports bolster this point, saying that people with ADHD are three times more likely to own their own business.

Making the most of ADHD in business

So if entrepreneurial ADHD is a real thing, what can people with ADHD who aren’t the Richard Bransons or David Neelemans of the world, do?

Learn to create systems and delegate mundane tasks to an assistant or partner, recommends Linda Walker, a Montreal-based ADHD coach whose specialty is entrepreneurs. Find someone to do the paperwork or administrative work. Typically, these business bright lights aren’t short on good ideas, but they have difficultly executing their schemes, trouble with time management and they bore quickly with routine tasks. Something as basic as accounting could derail an entrepreneur’s grand plan.

“It’s not a lack of will that makes them have difficulty writing a proposal it’s just a question of ‘where do I start?’” she says. “We look at energy patterns. When are you most able to focus and focus for a long time? How can we optimize those periods of the day? ADHDers are very much powered by interest, competition, novelty and sometimes urgency.”

Hire a coach, eat a balanced diet, exercise, meditate, try medication, find the right career or business and find the right life partner are all on the to-do list of the entrepreneur with ADHD. Left unchecked ADHD can lead to a slew of issues that include addictions, anxiety, depression,  impulsive spending, frequent accidents, poor relationships and underachievement at school, work and at home.

Getting the medical profession to grasp ADHD is a big part of the problem, says Hallowell, who believes physicians and psychiatrists often misdiagnose ADHD for other conditions.

SANLIURFA, TURKEY – OCTOBER 28: (TURKEY OUT) A Kurdish refugee girl from the Syrian town of Kobani carries water in a camp in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province October 28, 2014. (Photo by Kutluhan Cucel/Getty Images)

The wage gap between genders may begin before women even enter the workforce, according to a new a report from UNICEF.

The disparity in pay can be linked back to childhood as many girls are being tasked with performing more household chores than their male counterparts.

According to the report, titled “Harnessing the Power of Data for Girls, ” girls around the world between the ages of five and 14 spend 160 million hours a day more than boys of the same age cooking, cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, fetching water or firewood, caring for their siblings and other duties.

Girls ages five to nine spend an average of four hours per week performing these chores, but that number rises to nine hours for those between the ages of 10 and 14.

These figures are 30 and 50 per cent higher than boys from the same respective age groups.

In the three countries where girls are saddled with the most of the domestic work – Somalia, Ethiopia and Rwanda – more than half of girls aged five to 14 can spend at least 14 hours a week, or at minimum two hours a day, picking up these duties.

UNICEF said this data is troubling because it shows how their childhood roles can dash girls’ hopes for the future and push them into gendered career paths.

“The types of chores commonly undertaken by girls – preparing food, cleaning and caring for others – not only set the state for unequal burdens later in life but can also limit girls’ outlook and potential while they’re still young,” UNICEF said in the report.

“The gendered distribution of chores can socialize girls into thinking that such domestic duties are the only roles girls and women are suited for, curtailing their dreams and narrowing their ambitions.”

According to Quartz, nearly 90 per cent of girls are growing up in low- and middle-income countries, most in parts of Asia and Africa, where physically-demanding chores are the norm.

And it is girls who are often asked to shoulder the majority of these household burdens and give up opportunities to “learn, grow and just enjoy their childhood,” Anju Malhotra, principal gender advisor at UNICEF, said in a press release.

“The overburden of unpaid household work begins in early childhood and intensifies as girls reach adolescence,” she said.

“This unequal distribution of labour among children also perpetuates gender stereotypes and the double-burden on women and girls across generations.”

The report added that household chores are not valued as much as jobs, which renders the societal contributions of girls less visible and has “lasting effects on their self-esteem and sense of self-worth.”

The global pay gap between men and women remains firmly entrenched, despite progress in recent years.

A 2015 report by the World Economic Forum found that the difference in wages will not be closed until 2133.

It also ranked countries in terms of their efforts to level the playing field. Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Ireland led the pack, while Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Chad and Iran finished at the bottom of the 145-nation list.

Canada came in 30th, just two spots behind the United States.

Has your office become your home? Perhaps it is time for a career change to something that doesn’t require you working 24/7. Glassdoor has compiled a list of jobs, based on employee feedback over the past year, that have the best work-life balance. Click through the gallery to see what jobs topped the list. All figures in U.S. dollars.

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 15: Social media manger Median salary: $54,908 (sturti / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 14: Library assistant Median salary: $28,929 (Hill Street Studios / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 13: Substitute teacher Median salary: $25,178 (Hero Images / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 12: Scrum master Median salary: $89,428 (shironosov / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 11: Marketing analyst Median salary: $65,000 (Monty Rakusen / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 10: Research engineer Median salary: $103,029 (Monty Rakusen / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 9: Devops engineer Median salary: $110,000 (DragonImages / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 8: Mobile Developer Median salary: $101,318 (Georgijevic / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 7: Technical account manager Median salary: $75,000 (Hero Images / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 6: Recruiting co-ordinator Median salary: $48,000 (FangXiaNuo / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 5: UI designer Median salary: $84,500 (Hero Images/ Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 4: Strategy manager Median salary: $110,487 (Hero Images / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 3: Data scientist Median salary: $112,000 (Monty Rakusen / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

No. 2: UX designer Median salary: $95,000 (Hero Images / Getty Images)

Top 15 jobs for work-life balance

[A creative young professional in San Francisco is putting a tasty twist on handing out resumes. (Twitter)]

Standing out from the hundreds or even thousands of applications that job recruiters get is no easy task, especially in San Francisco’s hyper-competitive tech industry.

But marketing professional Lukas Yla is hoping to get an edge thanks to his secret weapon: doughnuts.

Yla, who is originally from Europe, told The Next Web that he has been dressing up as a courier and delivering a box of what is ostensibly tasty treats, but also includes a note with a link to his resume.

@Kirasw I was trying to deliver donuts to you, but wasn’t able to hand them personally. Hope you received th package pic.twitter.com/k3rNffSDje

— Lukas Yla (@LukasYla) September 12, 2016

“Most resumes end up in trash. Mine – in your belly,” reads the note.

The young creative told The Next Web that he’s handed out about 40 boxes of doughnuts since he started his job search, which has led to 10 interviews.

[Networking events can be a drag, but if you use them to your advantage, they can actually be a good opportunity.]

In a recent piece in the Harvard Business Review, Derek Coburn, author of “Networking Is Not Working,” called networking events both “inefficient and ineffective.”

“Regardless of how you define networking, your success will be directly tied to your ability to interact with people looking to achieve many of the same things you are,” he wrote. “The most basic problem with traditional networking events is that they are mixing bowls for professionals who are there for different reasons.”

It’s an interesting stance to take, especially in a publication tethered to an Ivy League school known for its frequent and global, er, network of networks. But Coburn raises some good points about the lack of authentic connecting going on at these sorts of events.

“Everyone there is focused on his or her own personal agenda, whether it’s signing a new client, creating awareness for their business, or connecting with someone in the hopes of developing a mutually beneficial relationship,” he writes. “Everyone is playing a different game, which is why there are usually no clear winners.”

So how then does one possibly win at networking?

“We need to change, we need to do an un-networking type of networking – call it relationship connecting or relationship building,” says Eileen Chadnick, an executive coach and founder of Big Cheese Coaching. “Networking has gotten a very bad name because it’s misunderstood.”

She says that while she disagrees with Coburn that networking events are, for the most part, a lost cause, she does agree that “people take a superficial approach.” She likens having a good networking strategy to building a proper financial plan.

“I think networking needs to have different parts – to be diverse and strategic and targeted – (something that) speaks to your needs and objectives,” she says. “I also think that network plans and activities need to evolve… just like a financial plan changes over time based on your life circumstances and your life stage, networking will also shift depending on where you are in the continuum of your career.”

Chadnick shared three ways to un-network:

Use LinkedIn the right way

“Too often, people do far too little building and strengthening their existing network… that is key,” she says. “They may be on LinkedIn but they’re not really using it; it becomes a passive list of people.”

Instead, she says, if you’re going to click “yes” on making a connection with someone, put the effort to actually grow that into a relationship. In other words, open a dialogue with them, talk about mutual connections, look for proper synergies there because the tool is already highlighting those common ties.

“Comment on their interesting career, be genuine,” she says. “Just say hello, do an email exchange and it can be just that for now or if there was any merit or reason to set up a meeting, do so.”

If rallying for an in-person coffee isn’t an option, the career coach suggests trying a “virtual coffee” video call.

Try “by the way” networking

Effectively networking in person has its own set of etiquette and quirks.

“A lot of people feel uncomfortable with networking because they think it’s going to push them to be inauthentic and smarmy and ask for things,” she says. “No wonder they feel uncomfortable because that is the wrong way to network.”

Instead, she recommends keeping flexibility in your agenda. Most conversations tend to tilt towards commonalities so if it seems like there’s some sort of connection you can help the person make, be the first to offer.

“In an authentic catch-up conversation, say ‘by the way, I’m trying to do this or that or I’m interested in talking to people doing such and such’ or maybe ‘You know what, I know somebody you should definitely talk to,’ ” says Chadnick. It can strengthen the bond and pave the way for future connections down the road.

Go to smaller events

And finally, if you’re finding yourself helplessly disoriented and short on results at big networking events, why not try going to smaller, more focused meet-up groups.

“It’s a return on investment kind of question, you have to ask yourself: how much time do I want to spend and what do I hope to get back?” she says. Maybe you don’t need to go every month; maybe networking events are just small parts of you diverse networking strategy. “A smaller intimate gathering can be more meaningful.”

Think about your reason for going, she says, and above all don’t be disappointed by the lack of immediacy surrounding building these connections.

[A worker wearing a mask rests at a tile product line in a workshop of Monalisa Ceramics Company which was shifted from China’s largest ceramics production centre Foshan due to environmental pollution, at the Yuantan Township on October 28, 2008 in Qingyuan County of Guangdong Province, China. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)]

Most people know that smog can pose health risks — from coughing and difficulty breathing to increased risk of heart attack — but a new study shows that air pollution may also have a detrimental on our brains and how much workers can accomplish at the office.

In a paper published earlier this summer, U.S.-based researchers analyzed how nearly 5,000 workers at call centres for Ctrip, China’s largest travel agency in Shanghai and Nantong, functioned on days when pollution levels were elevated.

By combing the company’s personal records, the researchers found that on average a 10-point increase in the local Air Quality Index readings, which measure the concentration of pollutants over a specific period of time, resulted in a 0.35 per cent decline the number of calls handled by Ctrip workers.

“We found a surprisingly robust relationship between daily air pollution levels and worker productivity,” the authors wrote in the Harvard Business Review.

Ctrip’s extensive details outlining its workers’ productivity that made the research possible, including daily completed calls, the length of breaks and time logged in.

Overall, the researchers suggest that findings show workers are five to six per cent more productive when pollution levels fall within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “good” range of 0-50 Air Quality Index (AQI) than when it qualifies for the “unhealthy” range of 151 to 200 AQI.

Furthermore, it didn’t take much air pollution to cause a decline in worker productivity.

The authors said they found “significant” effects even when air quality levels were in the range of 101 to 150 AQI, what EPA deems “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” which is commonly seen in many major U.S. cities.

In 2014, Los Angeles had 13 days with AQI readings higher than 150, while Phoenix had nearly triple that number at 33 days, half of which topped 200.

The authors said these workplace effects from pollution could also have massive financial consequences.

They estimated that smog could be cost Shanghai alone “billions of dollars” each year in lost productivity.

While they admit “more work needs to be done,” they say the findings may indicate that pollution is causing a decline in the cognitive function of workers .

They pointed to research indicating that pollutants are small enough to enter the bloodstream, travel into the central nervous system and become embedded deep in the brain stem.

This, in turn, can cause inflammation of the central nervous system, stress on the cerebral cortex and damage the blood vessels in the brain.

The authors also said exposure to pollutants has also been connected to lower intelligence and “diminished performance” in cognitive tasks.

“If the negative impact on productivity that we found in our research are the result of diminished cognitive function, it could mean that the negative impact of pollution on productivity may be greatest in higher-skilled jobs,” the authors warn.

[If you’re hoping for a raise next year, we’ve got some bad news for you…]

If you’re hoping to be handed a raise next year, Corporate Canada says forget it.

Base pay for Canadians is only expected to grow by 2.8 per cent in 2017, slightly higher than 2.6 per cent in 2016, according to human resources firm Aon Hewitt’s 2016 Canadian Salary Increase survey of 347 companies. The slight increase keeps pace with inflation but doesn’t signal much hope for Canadians looking to boost their pay. Variable pay – which includes additional compensation like bonuses – is expected to stand at 15.4 per cent for next year, echoing 2016.

“The Canadian companies we surveyed are clearly reluctant to earmark higher compensation increases as they prepare for a highly competitive landscape in 2017,” Suzanne Thomson, senior consultant for global data solutions at Aon Hewitt said in a release highlighting the findings. “On the plus side, fewer of them expect to freeze pay or cut salaries, and they are planning to keep already strong budgets for variable pay intact. That’s a key factor in their ability to attract and retain high performers.”

In 2016, 4.5 per cent of employers froze salaries – predominantly as a result of challenges in the oil and gas sector. In 2017, only 0.4 per cent of employers have plans to lockdown salaries next year.

“For 2017, employers, including those in the oil and gas sector, may be feeling confident that the worst is behind them,” added Thomson. “From an employees’ perspective, there might not be much upside when it comes to pay increases, but they can find some solace in the fact that the downside might be more limited.”

But for go-getters willing to put in effort for a raise or boost their earnings, Corporate Canada seems open to the idea. According to the survey nine out of 10 surveyed organizations offered up some sort of variable pay or bonus plan and so-called high potential employees saw an average “merit increase” to their pay by 4.4 per cent.

Bruce Sandy, principal career and leader coach at Pathfinder Coaching and Consulting in Greater Vancouver says even for employers showing austerity, there are ways for Canadians to grow their compensation outside of their salary.

“Ask for additional paid vacation time, flexibility – like work hours and working remotely – funding for courses and other professional development activities, and/or increased pension contributions,” Sandy told Yahoo Canada Finance. “Indicate that you will be willing to forego a raise this year due to the current economic climate but that you will want higher raises in the near future.”

It’s also important to try and get these sorts of commitments in writing as part of your performance review process. According to the Aon Hewitt survey, two-thirds of organizations say they offered some form of long-term incentive plan whether it is performance-related share grants or restricted stock.

If you’re willing to job-hop for a raise, Sandy recommends networking and seeking out other job opportunities.

“One needs to do their research on different sectors, companies and compensation and pay levels,” he adds. “This will help in current and future negotiations with your current company.”

And if you are serious about moving in order to grow your career, tell your employer.

[The majority of Canadians are prepared to walk out the door if they had a better employment opportunity come along.]

Two-thirds of Canadians are ready to leave their jobs today should an opportunity arise with a higher salary or better work-life balance, according to the latest

study

by human resources and payroll services giant ADP.

“Any given day a portion of the workforce is going to be looking for greener pastures, I think that’s human nature, but we were a little surprised it was over 60 per cent,” said Elizabeth Williams, director of brand and communications for ADP.

Of the more than 1,500 Canadians surveyed, 33 per cent say they don’t feel much loyalty to their employer, while 16 per cent say they are actively working for a new role. Another 16 per cent say they’re “casually” looking for a new role.

“Most people would tell you ‘if the right thing came along, well of course’ but I think the thing surprised us was that 32 per cent of the full workforce is actively or somewhat actively looking for a new role,” says Williams.

According to the survey, the majority (66 per cent) of those looking to try out something new cited compensation as a major driving force in their top two reasons for making a move while 56 per cent put elements like better work/life balance, fewer hours, less stress and shorter commutes or better locations as the reasons for considering ditching their current job.

“Workers increasingly are looking for meaning in their work and they’re less interested in climbing a corporate ladder than they are in doing work that matters to them or the feel is making a difference to the world around them,” she says.

Williams points out that while ADP expected millennials to lead the charge with the exodus, Canadians are considering making a change much later in life than they previously might have.

“We also found the next generation up, people in that 35 to 44 cohort who you would think are getting a bit more senior – they’ve got some financial pressures and are maybe not inclined to take a risk – are right there with the millennials saying ‘heck yes, if the right offer came along we’d jump.’ ”

About four in ten employees in the 18 to 34 year old age group say they’d leave their jobs for something better compared to 32 per cent in the 35 to 44 year old bracket. The 45 to 54 year old age group was closer to one in five. Only seven per cent in the 55 to 64 category are considering a move.

While its easy for employees to push their disdain for their job on their employers, Williams points out that it is a two-way conversation, employees need to be open with their employers and tell them exactly what they’re looking for in their job.