Doing the Opposite: Dr Joan Fallon – Reshaping our understanding of Autism

In episode three of Doing the Opposite Season 4, you’ll be introduced to the brilliant Dr Joan Fallon, Founder and CEO of Curemark.

She’s been on a lifelong mission to understand what causes autism and how we can better support autistic people — a subject that the medical world often shies away from due to its complexity and lack of cohesive patterns.

Joan spent years testing and researching, eventually finding a pattern that led her to develop Curemark’s first drug, which is targeted to treat autism and has recently completed clinical trials.

Through working to enrich the lives of millions of autistic children and their families, Joan has been on an inspiring journey to shake up the status quo.

A natural-born disruptor, it was a pleasure to chat with Joan about what advice she’d give to others trying to think differently and change the world.

Finding unique solutions

For Joan, it’s not enough to do something the same way it’s always been done.

“Thinking differently and finding unique solutions to problems is what disruption is all about,” she explains. “People think the world is formed around the status quo, and that it’s a seamless level of events and occurrences. But there are always faults in that continuum, and from those loose seams comes disruption.”

This desire to disrupt inspired her to found her company Curemark, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies to treat neurological and other disorders.?

Changing the face of leadership

Everyone has their ideas about what makes a brilliant leader. But Joan believes most people are taking the wrong approach.

“People think leadership is like someone in government ruling a country, or someone with a flag leading a trip,” she says. “The reality is that leadership is all about solving problems — if you can find the solutions, then you are a leader.”

“Information does not equal knowledge, and knowledge does not equal wisdom. Just because you have a lot of information, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be good at using it and applying it.”

Hear the rest of my conversation with Dr Joan Fallon by watching or listening to Doing the Opposite episode 3 now.