Ryan Hopkins (Neurodiversity)
Ryan Hopkins is on a mission to engage 1 billion people in the betterment of wellbeing. He is the Chief Impact Officer at JAAQ, LinkedIn Top Voice for Work Life Balance, TEDx Speak...
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Who are you?
My name is Ryan Hopkins. I have a deep interest in wellbeing, a self-professed nerd in the subject. Some people call me a LinkedIn influencer or a LinkedIn influencer, which is awfully embarrassing. I've got a girlfriend. I live in Fullham. I train lots and work on myself consistently. It's a journey and something we're enjoying along the way.
What is your background?
My background is chequered. Interesting, varied as all of ours are. You've heard of squiggly careers? Yeah. This takes it to another level. I'm from Hastings in East Sussex, a sleepy little town. I was once training to be an electrician. That was going to be my life. I was working on a building site as my family do. I then had an accident, which changed the trajectory of my life. I worked on the counter in a bank, giving out, getting a little money bags, working on people's past books. Then following that, I quit my job. Flew one way to Argentina, selling everything I could, selling my car for about 800 quid. Managed. Pulled together two grand, travelled around for about a year. Espanol. I taught myself Spanish. I set up a hostel business in Ecuador. Come back once. Go uni. Couldn't do so. I had no A levels because I had to work when I was younger to support my mom and my brothers. Were accepted to the lowest ranked union in the uk. Worked my butt off, transferred to a better university. Then I finally graduated a first class degree, which I'm very proud of. Ran a bar in Spain, ran a school in Italy. Think of a job. I've done it. Following that, I got a job in consultancy. The world's oldest graduate at Deloitte. Taught me a lot. I left. Went to Leeds Wellbeing at Sainsbury's. Got made redundant. Went to a big tech company to lead the future of work. Got made redundant again, thinking maybe this ain't for me, but I knew I was onto something. Came back to Deloitte to create and lead their wellbeing business. They took to market. Wrote a bestselling book that I, Ted Talk now and now I'm the Chief Impact Officer at JAAQ. I told you squiggly didn't I?
Are you neurodiverse?
Yes I am. I didn't realise, or no, until my mid twenties, I was at university at Oxford Brooks and I spoke to a friend who explained essentially dyslexia to me, as obvious as that sounds. And I was like, that sounds pretty much what I experienced. It takes me a while to comprehend the words on the page. I prefer a hundred times over to talk about something. If I talk away, I have a paper bag. And so he said, you should do an assessment. So did that university. Lo and behold, absolutely. How has this not been picked up dyslexic and, and then in my thirties I found out I have a DHD as well. So interesting journey. Always evolving.