Brilliant but exhausting
Their ideas are the best in the room, but every meeting overruns, and the team needs a week to recover from their visit.
Rule out first
The intensity of a founder in a genuine crisis. A team that needs raising to their level. A one-off deadline.
What could explain it
ADHD in adults: Ideas tumble out with interruptions, tangents and forgotten promises; they're likeable, chaotic, and mortified when told the cost.
Hypomanic (manic) character: Constant energy, confidence and charm, rarely tired; others carry the cost and they don't notice.
Leadership derailers (Hogan): Strengths overused under pressure: boldness turns arrogant, diligence turns into micromanagement. Calm periods look quite different.
Autism in adults: Deep expertise, directness and long monologues; they miss the room's fatigue and adjust readily when told plainly.
Grandiose narcissism: The brilliance needs an audience; people who don't admire it get cut out.
A next move
Tell them plainly what their style costs the team. Surprise and adjustment points to ADHD or autism; brief adjustment that collapses under pressure to derailers; dismissal or anger to narcissism.
If it’s you
What does it cost the people around me for me to be at my best?