Different brain, same open-plan office

A year ago I wrote a piece called Different brain, same meeting invite. A lot of you wrote back. Some of you wrote back very long. A few of you wrote back with what I can only describe as relieved recognition. You asked for more. So here it is. Same wiring. Different bruises.

I burn roughly 75% of my daily energy on the things most of my colleagues do not even notice they are doing. Navigating the noise. Filtering the input. Translating my thinking into linear sentences. Performing socially acceptable enthusiasm. That 75% is the tax. The remaining 25% is what the company is actually paying me for. Now imagine what most of us could do on 80% concentrated on the work that matters and 20% on the rest. (I have done that math more than once. The numbers are devastating.)

The full piece covers open-plan offices, the return-to-office mistake, Monday morning weekend reports, meetings that were never built for brains like mine, the contrarian setting that wants to shake people, the strongholds that keep me functional, and why divergent does not mean superior. Two thousand-something honest words.

Read the full piece on Heliade: https://heliade.net/different-brain-same-open-plan-office/

Originally published on Heliade on 17 May 2026.

Heliade · View from the Edge. Strategy, leadership and the perception from a slightly different brain. The blog is the home. This newsletter is the megaphone.