Fast Brain, Slow Conversation — Building the Bridge
One of my clients — a brilliant strategist — struggled to stay present in meetings. Not because she wasn’t interested, but because her brain ran at 1.5x speed. By the time a colleague finished their point, she had already:
- Connected it to three other ideas
- Spotted the solution
- Started drafting the next steps in her head
That mismatch in pacing often led to two outcomes:
- She’d interrupt to keep the conversation moving (and risk seeming impatient)
- She’d zone out, miss details, and have to catch up later
But here’s the nuance: it’s not always about rushing ahead.
Neurodivergent people often need to take in information in dosages that fit their processing speed.
If a conversation comes with a flood of detail or “extra” context, they might stop you — not to derail, but to process what they’ve already heard before adding more layers.
For her, the solution wasn’t to “slow her brain down,” but to create a bridge between her pace and everyone else’s:
- Clarifying questions to stay engaged without rushing the speaker
- Note-taking to park fast-moving ideas until it was her turn
- Processing pauses (“Let’s pause here so I can connect the dots before we go further”)
- Breath cues to re-anchor in the moment
When we normalized the idea that pausing is part of staying engaged, she stopped apologizing for it — and her colleagues started listening differently, too.
The lesson?
We can’t always match processing speeds, but we can design the conversation so everyone’s brain can do its best work.
💬 What would happen in your meetings if people felt free to pause and process before moving on?
Staying In Touch
What leadership challenges are you facing? We’d love to hear from you – feel free to set up a time to chat here.
Make sure you never miss an issue! Click the “subscribe” button in the upper right-hand corner of the page. For more articles and insights, connect with me here.
