The Tech Talent We’re Not Looking For Because It’s Already Here

Mike's Notes

Dorenda's dyslexic brother, John Britten, made the carbon-fibre elbow crutches that enabled my Tracy to complete the NZ Coast-to-Coast. The only paraplegic to ever do so.

Resources

• https://technewzealand.org.nz/2026/10/05/the-tech-talent-were-not-looking-for-because-its-already-here/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorendabritten/
• https://www.unlockinnovation.co.nz/
• https://technewzealand.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2026/10/New-Zealand-Tech-Metrics-2025.pdf
• https://www.coasttocoast.co.nz/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_to_Coast_(race)

References

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Last Updated

08/10/2026

The Tech Talent We’re Not Looking For Because It’s Already Here

By: Dorenda Britten

Tech New Zealand: 05/10/2026

Dorenda Britten: Co-Founder and Co-Developer, Peppr | Co-Founder, Unlock Innovation.

...

Dyslexia Awareness Week, 6–12 October 2026

As New Zealand’s technology sector grapples with AI, rapidly changing skills requirements and the challenge of finding the people it needs to innovate, there is another question worth asking: do we actually know what talent we already have?

For Dyslexia Awareness Week, perhaps it is time to look at dyslexia through a different lens. Dyslexia is usually discussed in terms of reading, writing and workplace accommodations. These things matter. But focusing only on the difficulties can mean overlooking something potentially very valuable to New Zealand’s technology sector: a different way of thinking.

Because 1 in 5 people are dyslexic whether they know it or not, the chances are you already employ people with hidden talents. Research by EY and Made By Dyslexia identified a range of capabilities associated with dyslexic thinking, including creativity, visualisation, cognitive flexibility, logical reasoning, systems analysis, complex problem solving and empathy.

Significantly for the technology sector, the research also makes connections with areas including programming, technology and user-experience design and customer relations.

Not every dyslexic person will have the same strengths. But the broader picture raises an interesting question for employers.

Are we recognising these capabilities when they are already sitting inside our teams and peppered through your job application processes?

AI makes the question more urgent. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 found that analytical thinking remains the number-one core skill identified by employers. Creative thinking is fourth, while systems thinking is also among the core capabilities employers identify as important.

Looking towards 2030, the report expects AI and big data, analytical thinking, creative thinking, resilience and flexibility, technological literacy, curiosity, systems thinking and empathy all to continue increasing in importance.

There is an interesting convergence here. As organisations invest heavily in AI some of the human capabilities they increasingly need, alongside that technology, are also capabilities frequently associated with dyslexic thinking. That should matter to the technology sector. AI can process enormous quantities of information and increasingly undertake routine and repeatable work. But organisations still need people who can ask different questions, recognise patterns, imagine alternatives, make unexpected connections and see a problem from another perspective.

What did we find in New Zealand? Our interest in this began through work undertaken by Unlock Innovation (now Peppr) in New Zealand’s technology sector. Our 2022 Tech Skills Pilot, supported by MBIE, involved New Zealand technology businesses and revealed a significant presence of people who identified as dyslexic, including people whose dyslexia had not necessarily been visible or declared within their workplace. 

It prompted a much bigger question for us. If organisations don’t know who their different thinkers are, how can they intentionally include their thinking when they are trying to innovate?

The answer is not simply to identify dyslexic employees or put another label on People. It is to examine the systems around them. How do we run meetings? How do we communicate ideas? Who gets heard? How do we recruit and promote people? How do we form innovation teams? And do our processes favour people who communicate and process information in conventional ways?

An organisation can employ brilliant different thinkers and still unintentionally design them out of the innovation process.

From awareness to advantage

This is why we believe the conversation around dyslexia needs to move beyond awareness alone. Awareness is important, but recognition and inclusion are where organisations begin to see value. This work is now continuing with the University of Canterbury to further investigate the relationship between dyslexia, different thinking and innovation. We want to better understand what happens when organisations deliberately create conditions in which different thinkers can contribute their capabilities.

For New Zealand’s technology sector, this could become increasingly important.

The conversation about our future workforce often begins with a skills shortage: Where will we find the people with the capabilities we need?

During Dyslexia Awareness Week, we’d like technology leaders to consider a different starting point: what if some of the talent you are looking for is already in your organisation, but you haven’t yet learned how to see it? This may be one of New Zealand’s most overlooked opportunities for innovation.