Headline Oct 24, 2014/

''' HEY- YOU ALL ! : 

ANY GEEKERY IN THY GENES? '''

ATTENTION-DEFECIT DISORDER  is another entrepreneur friendly affliction:

People who cannot focus on one thing for long can be disastrous employees but founts of new ideas.

Some studies suggest that people with  Attention-Defect Disorder are six times more likely than average to end up running their own businesses.

David Neeleman,  the founder of JetBlue, a budget airline, says:

''My ADD brain naturally searches for better ways of doing things.

With the disorganisation, procrastination, inability to focus and all the other bad things that come with the  ADD,  there also come creativity and the ability to take risks.''

Paul Orfalea, the founder of  Kinko's  and a hotch-potch of businesses, has both ADD and dyslexia:

''I get bored easily ; that is a great motivator,'' he once said. ''I think everybody should have dyslexia and ADD''.

Where does that leave the old-fashioned organisation man?

He will do just fine. 

The more companies hire  brilliant mavericks, the more they need sensible managers to keep the company grounded. Someone has to ensure that dull but necessary tasks are done.

Someone has to charm customers and perhaps lawmakers.

This task is best done by those who don't give the impression that they think normal people are stupid.

Sheryl Sandberg,  Mr Zuckerberg's deputy, does that rather well for Facebook.

Many start-ups are saved from the disaster only by replacing the founders with professional managers.

Those managers, of course, must learn to work with geeks.   

The clustering of people with unusual minds is causing new problems. People who work for brainy companies tend to marry other brainy people.

Simon Baron Cohen of  Cambridge University  argues that when two hyper-systematisers meet and mate, they are more likey-

To have children who suffer from  Asperger's  or it is more severe cousin, autism.

He has shown that children in Eindhoven,  a technology hub in the Netherlands, are two to four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than children in two other Dutch towns of similar size.

He has also shown that  Cambridge students who study mathematics, physics, and engineering are more likely to have autistic relatives than students studying English literature.

Most employers are leery of hiring severely autistic people, but not all.

Specialist People, a Danish firm, matches autistic workers with jobs that require a good memory or a high intolerance for repetition.

More broadly, the replacement of organisation man with disorganisation man is changing the balance of power.

Those square pegs may not have an easy time in school. They may be mocked by jocks  and,  and ignored at parties.

But these days no serious organisation can prosper without them.

As Kiran Malhotra, a  Silicon Valley Networker, puts it:

''It's actually cool to be a geek.''

With respectful dedication to the Students of the world. See Ya all on !WOW! -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' Asperger's Syndrome '''

'''Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless