Brain Soup

In this episode of Brain Soup, Tee and Kate sit down with Timm McShane, a professional coach who works with neurodivergent people in the tech industry. The conversation blends personal stories, leadership lessons, and reflections on how neurodivergent thinkers navigate work, learning, and community.Timm shares his journey from software developer and systems integrator to leadership roles in large tech organizations, and eventually into coaching. Diagnosed with autism as a child and ADHD later in life, he talks openly about trauma, therapy, and the ongoing process of understanding how his brain works. Tee and Timm also compare experiences with PTSD treatment and EMDR, discussing both the benefits and the strange side effects that can come with deep psychological work.A major theme of the episode is leadership and workplace culture. Timm reflects on mistakes he made early in management, particularly creating “us vs. them” dynamics between his team and leadership, and what he learned about building healthy organizational culture. The group discusses how traditional corporate management often assumes employees are acting in bad faith, while effective leadership is about trust, alignment, and creating environments where people can succeed.The conversation also explores neurodivergence in tech, including how ADHD and autistic traits can shape career paths, productivity, and learning styles. Tee talks about following dopamine-driven interests throughout their career, while Tim describes how novelty, pressure, and problem-solving environments helped him thrive without realizing he had ADHD for decades.Later in the episode, they shift into AI and productivity tools, discussing how generative AI can help people overcome personal limitations, such as writing challenges, while also debating where human creativity and voice still matter. The discussion touches on everything from AI as a coworker to automation in communication tools.As always with Brain Soup, the episode meanders through tangents, books, productivity hacks, sleep habits, and strange workplace stories, while maintaining a core focus on how people think, lead, and build meaningful careers in complicated systems.