Alex Partridge is a celebrated expert on business megatrends and a renowned speaker with The Champions Speakers Agency. Best known as the founder of UNILAD and LADBible, Alex is widely recognised as one of the original pioneers of social media content as we know it today.
With a career spanning digital innovation, entrepreneurship, and mental health advocacy, he has become a powerful voice for neurodiversity, particularly following his late diagnosis of ADHD. Alex is also the host of the chart-topping podcast ADHD Chatter and an acclaimed keynote speaker, having taken the stage over 200 times for leading brands and events including TED, Formula 1, and the BBC.
In this interview with The SpeakOut Agency, Alex shares his insights on how businesses can unlock true creativity, improve communication, and build more inclusive environments – especially for neurodiverse talent.
Q: What can businesses learn from an entrepreneur like yourself?
Alex Partridge: “I think, from a creativity point of view, to get the most out of your team, it’s probably best not to stick within the rigid stereotypes of how a lot of creative businesses operate. From my understanding and experience, the best creative ideas often come from people who don’t always thrive in traditional settings.
Time is so important. It’s interesting to look at when and where the best ideas come to me, or to others like me. who have tremendously valuable creative input. They often come at the silliest times, while walking the dog or going for a run. They certainly don’t come, at least in my experience, when there’s pressure to come up with a creative idea on the spot.
Meetings can be fatal for creativity. I still see it a lot: people are brought into a creative room, given a brief from a client, and expected to come up with a creative idea and a decision within a 30-minute time slot. I think that’s really sad, because so many great ideas are lost in that kind of mythology.
So, my advice would be – allow time. Let ideas flourish. Don’t rush big decisions when it comes to creativity, because even with just an extra 24 or 48 hours, the best ideas will come.”
Q: How can businesses build a culture that encourages creativity and innovation?
Alex Partridge: “I really want to emphasise my first point, that the people who often come up with the best creative ideas are those who shut down under traditional business environments. It’s like there’s a throttle around their creativity.
That doesn’t mean you need sleep pods or office slides like the stereotypical Google setup. It’s more about giving people the time they need. You might see it as a cost, delaying results back to a client by 48 hours, but the return on investment is huge.
There needs to be a clear understanding within the team that there’s no pressure to come back with an idea immediately. You can set up various systems – different communication channels, for instance – but the key is giving people time.
So many ideas are lost to urgency. The best ideas come when people are allowed just a bit more time – 24 hours to go away, be alone, and not be put in situations that throttle their creativity. Give them time, 24 hours, and I promise you; you’ll get the best ideas.”
Q: What are the biggest mistakes businesses make in their approach to communication?
Alex Partridge: “I go back to this point time and time again, and although it might sound repetitive, it’s so important – I’ve seen it work incredibly well. If you want creativity to thrive, I would abandon meetings. So many things communicated in meetings don’t need everyone gathered in one room. And if you’re bringing your best creative minds into a meeting room, the chances are that’s not the ideal scenario for them to thrive.
Instead, email the brief to your creative team and give them 24 hours. You can still have a meeting if you want, but it’s vital to understand that any kind of social pressure – certainly for me and others I know who produce the best creative results – acts like a throttle on our thinking.
Give people the time and space to go off on their own and let them communicate their ideas in the way that works best for them, often, just through an email. That can be a very effective communication method.”
Q: You were recently diagnosed with ADHD. Do you feel this has helped or hindered your business success?
Alex Partridge: “On balance, I’d say it’s helped. I’ve always been a little bit weird, a little bit not
normal in my working habits – to the point where friends and family were concerned about my social life. I would isolate myself in my room and obsessively work on my computer with UniLAD and LADbible, building social media communities.
At the time, there wasn’t much awareness around neurodiversity, and I certainly didn’t know I fell into that bracket. From the outside, it probably looked concerning. But if I hadn’t leaned into that, if I’d tried to go against the grain, socialised more, or stopped being so obsessive over work, I genuinely don’t think I’d have seen the success I have.
I wouldn’t attribute everything to ADHD. There are traits of ADHD that clearly played a part in hindsight. But how many of those contributed to my success, and how many were just part of who I am as an individual – I don’t really know, and I’m not sure it matters.
To answer the question: I definitely didn’t show many neurotypical traits. People were concerned about me. I was called odd or weird because of my work habits, but it’s those very habits that got me to where I am today.”
Q: Are businesses doing enough to support the neurodiverse community?
Alex Partridge: “If you’d asked me ten years ago, I’d probably have said no. But I do think things are getting better now. There’s always room for improvement, but I’m seeing a lot of good things happening.
One thing I’m seeing, which other businesses could adopt, is making it clear right from the job description stage that your business is inclusive and open to neurodiverse candidates. Use a diversity statement, be mindful of language, and signal from the start that you’re welcoming.
Train the people conducting interviews. For example, autistic candidates or those with ADHD may take questions at face value and not see an opening to expand on their answer. Neurotypical candidates often do. So, train interviewers to give additional prompts to allow candidates to open up.
It’s also vital to train the whole company. Raise awareness of neurodiverse symptoms and conditions so that people understand how some employee’s work. Cultivate empathy throughout the organisation so that no one is surprised when someone works in a different way.
Most importantly, be aware that many neurodiverse individuals, me included, don’t function well in traditional office environments. A noisy office, constant meetings, or pressure to make quick decisions can be paralysing.
Put systems in place that allow grace periods for decisions. Let people take time alone to think through their answers, because in my experience, those are often the best answers. In general, educate the workplace and ensure your environment is inclusive for neurodiverse individuals.”
This exclusive interview with Alex Partridge was conducted by John Hayes, CEO at The Champions Speakers Agency.
