Children of Chaos | Is the ADHD Industrial Complex Keeping You From Success?
- dougkatz8
- May 19
- 3 min read
I’m Doug Katz, the creator of Children of Chaos.
It’s a fairly new venture, but you may have read some of the articles I have out there. I’m publishing here and a couple of other places, and you might see my shares under my other business ventures. I figured it was time to start adding video to what I’m creating — that’s a lot of the currency of how things are done today.
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As I’ve gotten out there and seen what’s in what I’m calling the ADHD industrial complex, I’ve been impressed and aghast. Thoroughly impressed by some of what people are doing — and aghast at more of what I’ve seen. That ranges from pointless memes that don’t even seem to have any relevance to ADHD, to Reddit groups that are almost codependent in feeding the narrative of not being able to achieve.
For me this isn’t about “hey, do what I did.” It’s about understanding the lessons I’ve learned.
What I would love to do is Q&A, because the way I look at things is a little different — and I think that’s shaped by my past. For those who don’t know me: I’m a West Point graduate, class of 1993. I spent five years in the Army in the artillery, primarily stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, with some time in Kuwait. Then I entered corporate America across varied industries and roles — steel casting, telecommunications equipment, mortgage lending. Now I’m an entrepreneur with products coming to market and a consulting business.
I’ve seen a lot of different things and a lot of what works. Much of it has been shaped by organizational dynamics — and that could even be the dynamics within a family. And now I understand my wiring, because I was also late diagnosed. Diagnosed by the VA, actually, in my forties — unable to take medication due to a heart condition, and wouldn’t have anyhow.
So for me it’s a very different perspective. And if I can add some value to people trying to navigate this, that’s what I would love to do.
What makes my approach different is that it’s based on value. That’s a nuanced place to go because many people with this wiring have been taught not to value themselves. But fundamentally we’re transactional in a lot of ways — and I’m not just talking about financial value. The value you bring to a relationship, a business enterprise, whatever you’re part of, will ultimately define how your authentic self is accepted. And the reality is your authentic self is ADHD — unless you choose to control it pharmaceutically.
What I want to bring to the discussion is an understanding of dynamics as it applies to that:
Peer dynamics — someone you’re on a team with, or a family member.
Subordinate dynamics — the people you work for, or who are over you in any hierarchical structure.
Leading people who have this wiring — because you could be a parent, a boss, or both.
And leading as someone with this wiring yourself.
I just published a four-part series on Substack that talks about exactly this. That’s what I want to bring to the conversation — in a Q&A format. If people have scenarios they can send in, there’s no shortage of material. Because no one person is like the next, and the problem is that a lot of the remedies out there are heavily based on changing yourself — when fundamentally there’s likely value there that you can understand and leverage. To have people accept your wiring at the very least, or better yet, understand and value it because it adds to the overall relationship, team, or enterprise.
That’s what I hope to create with Children of Chaos. My goal is to grow the audience in a way that attracts sponsors, while keeping this content free — and ultimately bring keynote speaking and consulting to organizational situations.
I hope to hear from you. Subscribe, follow, or support this in whatever way works for you. And if you want to support me in another way, my primary business is an adaptive knife called the NULU — some of the lessons I learned there will show up in the content I create here.
Thanks for watching. We’ll talk soon.
Send me your scenarios. Peer, leader, subordinate, organizational. That’s what we’re here for.
I am not a clinician but a person with a lived experience that I feel can help others and positively impact my fellow Children of Chaos. If this framing resonates, I speak on this. The Children of Chaos keynote is built for organizations, leaders, and parents who want to understand how high-variance minds work — and where they create disproportionate strength. Learn more at douglasmkatz.com/thechildrenofchaos
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