Business can find it hard to know where, when and how to start when it comes to neuro affirming practices. 

A practical system for managing energy, not time—helping teams allocate their “credits” to the right tasks so they can work with their brain, not against it, and achieve more without burnout.

What if the traits we’ve been taught to manage or hide are the very things teams need more of?

Claire Thomas, founder of Empact Group, named the overall AFR Best Place to Work 2025, shares candid “confessions” from her journey as a neurodiverse CEO building one of Canberra’s fastest-growing consultancies.

With energy, humour and honesty, Claire reveals how leaning into difference and embracing divergent thinking has shaped her leadership and transformed the teams around her.

Through practical tools and real-world examples, she shows how Human-Centred Design, curiosity, and adaptability can help leaders reframe so-called weaknesses into performance advantages. This session is for leaders serious about results but ready to rethink what leadership really looks like.

Takeaway: When leaders embrace diverse minds, they create cultures that not only deliver but thrive - by design.

A hot topic from SXSW and one that Claire has experimented with internally and delivered to clients. A science-backed approach that uses play, curiosity and experimentation to unlock creativity, problem-solving, performance and proving that serious outcomes don’t always require serious methods.