Louis CarterFounder and Chief Executive Officer, Best Practice Institute · Founder and CEO, Best Practice Institute - Most Loved Workplace® | Organizational Psychologist | Creator of AI Workplace Intelligence and Employer Branding Platform

Neurodiverse Careers: Early Exposure & Mentoring Key #shorts

3 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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0:36

In this short, the speaker reflects on conversations with hundreds of people about how neurodiverse individuals enter their careers. He argues that successful career entry hinges on two sequential steps: early exposure to a field during childhood, followed by mentorship later on. To illustrate, he cites Michelangelo, who left school at twelve, roamed churches absorbing great art (exposure) and grew up around stone‑cutting tools, eventually receiving mentorship that shaped his craft. The core message is that exposing neurodiverse youth to career‑relevant environments early, then providing guided mentorship, is essential for their professional development.

Chapters

You see, what I'm learning, and I've talked to hundreds of people about how they got into their careers, especially people that were probably neurodiverse. How do they get into career exposure? You have to expose to a career that needs to be starting with young kids and then later on mentoring. Let's take Michelangelo, for example, dropped out of school when he was 12 and kind of a dirty, grubby little brat, but he was running around all the churches and seeing great art. That's exposure. He also grew up with stone cutting tools, so he started making some stuff, and then he got mentored. So exposure first, and then mentoring.