For years, my professional life felt like a high-performance engine trying to run on the wrong fuel. There was a persistent, “vague discomfort”—a sense that despite my intelligence and drive, I was perpetually out of sync with the gears of the corporate world. I returned to Japan at age 37, having started my career in the United States, only to find myself in a grueling cycle. In company after company, I would land high-profile roles, only to be met with the same result: a formal “request to resign.”

The breakthrough didn’t come from “trying harder.” It came at age 49, when a psychiatric evaluation finally provided the missing puzzle piece: a dual diagnosis of ASD and ADHD. Far from being a label of limitation, this diagnosis was a strategic map. It transformed me from a “broken” employee into a Neurodiversity Career Advocate who stopped fighting the system and started building a fortress around a unique operating system.