Garth Johnson
Garth Johnson co-founded Meticulon Consulting in 2013, in Calgary, Alberta. It is Canada’s first social enterprise to deploy the unique abilities of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder as IT consultants. Autism extends into Garth’s family life, as he and his wife Katherine have a son with diverse neurology. In this inspiring conversation, we discover how Meticulon is helping families, while shedding much-needed light into the world of Autism, business and work.
It is estimated that about two percent of the population has Autism Spectrum Disorder. Approximately 85% of them are unemployed, despite the fact that many have rich skills and a desire to work. Meticulon has pioneered the development of breakthrough assessment software that identifies strengths for people on the Autism Spectrum. Meticulon also provides training to fill skill gaps, and coaching to create job success.
Prior to taking leadership at Meticulon, Garth enjoyed a successful career in IT including roles as Vice-President of iStockphoto and President of Fotolia North America, now Adobe Stock Photo. Garth also serves on the board of the Canadian Association for Supported Employment, whose mission is to create sustainable, equitable employment for all Canadians with diverse abilities.
For more about Meticulon, visit their website.
(30 minutes)
TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW:
Bill Locke:
Garth, it’s a pleasure to see you.
Garth Johnson:
Good to be here.
Bill Locke:
Garth, I want you to tell me about Meticulon as if I knew nothing about Meticulon – what it is, who is it for, and how did it come about?
Garth Johnson:
Meticulon is a not-for-profit that focuses on helping young people, primarily 16 to 24 ish as our primary client base, to prepare to be as employable and as independent and achieve, you know, as much as they can in life through using a tool that we are currently calling MAS, which it stands for the Meticulon Assessment Service, to help young people determine where they’re at in their journey based on what employers say is required to be a good employee. And so it’s good for all of us. These measures and outcomes are not, you know, diverse ability specific, but the way that we do the assessment is very sensitive and very designed to fit people with various diverse abilities. And then it becomes a coaching tool that is used by your family, and by your teachers, or your aides or your circle of care or your life coach or whoever. And, and so we have our own system. It’s really designed to help a person not become, you know, completely independent and sufficient in terms of skill, but help them come to understand what they need to do, or help other people understand what accommodations or supports a person might need in order to succeed in the role. It also helps people figure out where their strengths are, and it is strength based – it’s not deficiency based. It’s not “You’re insufficient here or there.” It’s “You’re really good at this. How can we use that to help you with this? And how can you move forward?” And it’s really working. And so it came out of, we started a consulting business in 2013 that recruited, trained and deployed Autistic people in various tech roles as our employees, to go out and fill contracts that we got for work. And as a part of that process, we needed to find a way to understand not only what a person was capable of and doing in terms of skills, but what challenges they might have in the workplace that we might need to support and that our clients – our business customers – might need to understand. And we looked at it and many, many, many of our colleagues who came to work with us had struggled not because they didn’t have skills to do the job, but because they really hadn’t been prepared for what it is like to sit in a seat and work a job, you know, for 30 hours a week or 35 hours a week, and deal with all the things that we all deal with. And so we developed this process out of that. We sold the consulting business to a company called Auticon, and then took all the money – every single penny of it – and reinvested it in the development of this tool. And so that’s what we do. Our plan is to go to market with it to support people like Supportive Employment Agencies, Autism programs, and other community programs. I’ve offered them both our assessment service if they want it, but also the tool. And we’re expecting to begin that work this autumn.
Bill Locke:
Garth, you’re doing ground-breaking work with people with Autism. I know that because I have a daughter with Autism, but a lot of people don’t know why this is so important. Give me a little bit of background as to the reason why Meticulon was formed. Where does it fit for individuals and also families at this time?
Garth Johnson:
Well, it was really formed because there was a kind of convergence of my personal life and my business life. I also have a young Autistic son – well, he’ll be 23 next month – and, you know, got very immersed in the community. But it wasn’t from him that I saw this. It was from my other career. I was involved in the online marketing world. And we had a number of people on our development teams who really struggled with some of the social norms of work. They fit in with our kind of ‘loosey-goosey web 2.0 culture’, but when they went to other places had struggles. And as we grew to a significant size, you know, a few hundred people, things changed for them. And I thought, you know, how can this person go from being one of the most amazing developers you’ve ever worked with, to a person who’s struggling with anxiety and doesn’t even want to come to work. And so we started Meticulon because – and I don’t know where this statistic comes from, Bill, but it’s used all the time – that there’s 85,000 people on the Autism Spectrum in Canada who are capable of work, who do not have work, and who want work. And what I do know from my personal experience is that an Autistic person who ends up in the right role doing the right thing to achieve the right outcome is exceptionally good at it. And you know, very often people say, “Well, you know, neuro-divergent people are better at certain tasks than non neurodivergent people.” I somewhat dispute that insight, because we don’t measure how good neurotypicals are at what they do, really. What we do identify is, because we spend so much time putting a person in a job they love, and they have the skills to do it, and they really, really thrive at it – and then it appears that they are better. A lot of people are in jobs that they don’t love, they don’t like and it’s the wrong fit. But for an Autistic person, we have to do that work, because it’s just key to how they’re wired. And I’m speaking in generalizations here – it’s a very broad spectrum of people, no pun intended. But you know, it ultimately comes down to “right fit; right outcome”. And we know that businesses don’t hire people to do good; they hire people to accomplish tasks in order to fulfill their business requirements, which in the end leads to them being viable. And so if we put a person in place who can’t do that, it doesn’t work for anyone. Or if we put a person in place who doesn’t love doing that, or want to do that, it doesn’t work. So we spend much more time preparing our people, understanding our people, and putting them out there. And so we built a business out of it. You know, it wasn’t a charity; it was a ‘for-purpose business’, with the whole purpose of demonstrating to the business community that there is an untapped talent pool. The things that we ask for, and the changes that we ask for, and the implementations that we ask for, benefit everybody – and customer after customer after customer ends up implementing them team-wide, because they’re just good practices for people: good communication skills, good context. So I’ll give you an example. I was in a meeting today and someone said, “Tell me one thing that we could do that would make our recruitment process better.” I said, “Simple. Send the interview questions that you want to ask your candidates to them in advance.” And they just looked at me. And I said, “Is the purpose of the interview to surprise them and put them on the spot, and see if they can think on their feet? Or is it to get the answer? And if they over-prepare and they manipulate the answer, it’s no different than if they answered it the same way in the moment.” Sure, there are other things you need to do, but take away the anxiety for people and let them prepare a cognizant, well-thought through response. People with Autism have asked for that. And wouldn’t you like that? You sent me the questions for this interview today in advance, so I came prepared. What do you think?
Bill Locke:
(Laughing) You are very well prepared. You know the questions better than I do now.
Garth Johnson:
These are the kinds of things that we have to explain to people all the time. And, you know, the understanding of Autism in our world is much better than it was 25 years ago. It’s markedly better. It’s incrementally better than it was 10 years ago. But there’s still a significant amount of the population that doesn’t really understand what Autism is, or unfortunately, their impression of Autism has been framed by entertainment media, which, as we know, is not a representation of Autistic people. It’s a representation of stereotypes, which are easy to pull out to craft a story around.
Bill Locke:
Well, let’s make it very real, Garth. You’re the dad of a 23-year-old with, well, a different type of neurology. You and your wife have poured yourselves into that person, and there are some challenges that go with that. Tell us a little bit about what it’s like to have a kid, including a 23-year-old, with a different neurology, and what sort of challenges go with that.
Garth Johnson:
It’s different for everyone, but the biggest thing for us that has had the biggest impact was that it’s not just his Autism – he has other, you know, associated conditions. He has an intellectual disability, and he’s got other things, too. He’ll be with us for life. And so, retirement is party of three, not two. And when I go, I’m very concerned about what happens to my child, because my child will still need someone to care for him. And so your concerns and your whole life-focus shifts, and all of a sudden, you know, what you think about becomes a much bigger picture. So my older son, who is not an Autistic person, used to tell the girls that he dated in high school, “By the way, if this goes somewhere, you’re going to have my brother with us.” He was sixteen! That’s not a pickup line. It’s a reality. But you know, on a day-to-day basis, it requires a tremendous amount of effort. Our Austistic son is not the kind of person where I can just go up and say, “Hey, we’re going to do this”, without having some kind of negative response if it’s spur of the moment. Sometimes it has to be, but we have to take a tremendous amount of time to prepare him, because of his anxieties around change, and his anxieties around being in public with lots of people, and noise and all these kinds of things. And so, you know, for instance, if we’re going out to our cottage, we have to say, “We’re going to the cottage in four weeks, and we’re going to go on this day.” And we have to consistently do it; we have to create a visual calendar for him, so that he can reference it. So you know, there are those kinds of efforts. Conversations with him are very, very binary most of the time, and occasionally, we have this kind of interaction, but it’s very occasional. For the most part, it’s purely transactional. And you know, he loves us to bits! He’s a good person, but he has a different way of communicating with the world. If I want to spend quality time with him, I need to be a video gamer. And so your expectations change; your hopes change; as a partner, you must really, really, really invest in time together, because the stresses of carrying this load and dealing with the meltdowns that happened when he was younger – they don’t happen any more – but those sorts of things can drive a wedge. The financial cost, too – you know, there’s the cost for diagnosis, the cost for support, the cost if we want to go out somewhere and do something for respite; it just changes your economic profile. And you know, what, if one person has to stay at home, then it cuts your revenue. And so the divorce rate in our community is through the roof. It’s based on stress. So what you want to do with your child is you want to help them “to be all that they can be”, to use an ’80s saying. And I think with our son Teague, we have really been able to help him find work that is meaningful for him, that he’s good at, that he enjoys – and we’ve been able to help him find community where he can make contributions. Because things like employment, like we do for people in Meticulon, really are one of the deepest forms of inclusion we have in society. Being able to make a meaningful contribution is something that not many people get to do even in their work, but everybody wants to feel like they did something. And people with diverse abilities are no different. It’s just the path there is not always as easy and as straight. But if you don’t find that for people, then they go through life without that sense of purpose and meaning, and that’s not really a great thing for anyone. So, you know, that’s why we created Meticulon, for the super gifted, talented folks in tech that we have. That’s why we’ve taken the principles from Meticulon and put them into the MAS tool – to help my son, who went through MAS and you know, ended up discovering a bunch of stuff about himself. The other great thing about MAS is that – and Bill, as a parent, you know this to be completely true – you can tell your kid something 1000 times and somebody else tells it to them once and all of a sudden, it has impact, because it wasn’t Dad, Mom or brother or sister telling them. And you know, that’s one of the interesting things about the MAS tool that helps affect change, especially for people with Autism, because they can see it right there on a graph. If you want a job, this area’s red, and you’ve got to get it to yellow at least and this is what employers say and this is why employers say it, and here it is. Do you want to work on it? If they’re motivated, and they’re not just there because their parents made them come and do the program, they’re in.
Bill Locke:
So you’ve talked to us about the impact that having a child with Autism has had on you guys; you’ve talked about some of the things you’ve learned and have been doing at Meticulon that you’ve been able to bring to Teague, your son. Can you give me an example of somebody who has come to Meticulon whose life has been changed?
Garth Johnson:
Oh, there are, like, many, many, many. So I can give you an example. One of our colleagues came to us in year two. He’d had some tech training, and he was incredibly nervous all the time. Our interviews are very friendly. Like, our interview process is no stress; it’s a conversation. And I remember he was sweating bullets – like, his head was just dripping from nerves. He kept wiping and apologizing. And we said, “It’s fine, it’s fine.” And he came through, though he could never made eye contact, and he wouldn’t really talk very much. He was very, very unsure and not confident, but he had real skills. We used to give our colleagues very difficult tests – logic tests and things like that. Not as a ‘pass-fail’, but as an evaluation, and he killed some of those tests. So he got a job with us, and became a software tester. He went into a company, and his Employment Coordinator – who helped facilitate the relationship between the customer and him, and helped support him if he had questions or needs behind the scenes – did a tremendous amount of work with him. And after about six months, the customer came to us and said, “You know, he’s doing really, really well! He’s actually taught himself some code, and he’s doing coding as well.” And over the years, this person changed from that sweaty, nervous, “living in his parents’ basement” person – to now has his own home, is a manager of other neurodivergent people on that team, is unbelievably confident, is a very, very well-spoken advocate for Autism in the workplace, mentors our entry-level people with “this is what you need to know to succeed in the workplace”, and has become a completely different person. Certainly no more nerves. But it took him almost eight years. He’s been working for the same company, and loving it, which is also one of the benefits of working with neurodivergent talent, because if they love something, they’re going to stay. Turnover is not a thing, as long as there’s something really working there. And so, you know, he’s been completely and utterly transformed. And not really because of what we did. We cannot take credit for the success of our colleagues. What we need to do is recognize that what we provide is an opportunity. It’s like a runway for liftoff. But that’s all we really do. Because it’s really on them. They get deployed, they do the work, they put in the effort. And it’s all they really ever wanted in the first place. What we do take credit for is educating the customer and the client base about what neuro divergence is, what it looks like, how to work with it, and how to make it successful. And we do that piece, because that’s the soft skills training side that we can bring to the table. And so it’s a very good partnership, but ultimately, you know, his success was on him. If you had time, I could tell you thirty stories like that.
Bill Locke:
That’s beautiful. Well, you’ve made a huge difference in the lives of many, many people, not just the individuals, but I would think their families are going to benefit in many cases, their co-workers, and the people around them are going to benefit.
Garth Johnson:
Yup. And, you know, seeing the families have hope again, whether it be through the MAS tool, or whether it be through employment, is really one of the things that’s like a side benefit that nobody really measures. But the impact to society, of parents who have depression, who have anxiety, who have addiction challenges, and other things that are outcomes of some of the stress that they carry – if we can alleviate that, then the benefits to society aren’t just for the person we help. It’s for their whole circle. Much bigger.
Bill Locke:
Now this is something that probably you don’t have a chance to talk about all that often, but I’m wondering – what about faith? Where does that fit in, Garth, into your journey?
Garth Johnson:
In my entire career, I have tried to do things that I think make a difference. And I’ve always been motivated by trying to spend my life doing something that makes this place a little better. Someone asked me the other day, “What’s your life mission? What’s your life goal?” It was at a plenary address, and the guy was asking each of us to talk about our legacy. And I said to the person that I was talking to, “It’s really simple. Every single person that I meet, whether that be potential customers, you, the lady who was my Uber driver today, or anybody – I want to make the world a little better for them, by being kind, by showing concern, by engaging them.” Because 100 years from now, Bill, it doesn’t matter how big a thing we think we’re going to do; it doesn’t matter how important we try to be, how much money we acquire, or any of those things. We’re forgotten on this planet. If you sat down and tried to list 100 people that made a huge impact 100 years ago, you would struggle. And, you know, if you took all of history, you could maybe come up with 100 people, but think about how many billions of people have lived. So ultimately, what life needs to be about is this: when you meet someone, and they’re in your life, be good to them. And if they’re good to you, then be around them. And, you know, ultimately, that’s as simple as it is. I was raised in an environment where I carried around my faith like an invisible ruler. And what I did with it was this: I would pull it out, and I would measure you. I would measure things like “Can you tick this box?” Or “Do you believe this? Or do you say that? Or do you do this? Or do you not do that?” And then I would decide whether or not I needed to come and help you, or avoid you, or whatever. And then I would put that back in my back pocket, and I would go on with life. And I was around all these other people. But the problem with that, is that even if you have similar values and systems, you’re still being measured by an invisible ruler, by everybody else around you who does that. And it’s not internalized. And for me, faith is meant to be not about what anybody else does. Faith is about when I look myself in the mirror, and I just sit there and stare at myself. I’ve never done this, but what if I stared at myself for an hour, and just thought what would I like to be, and who is that person on the other side of the mirror. Because faith needs to be making me a better person tomorrow. Because none of us are great all the time. And none of us are capable of living by our value system in every moment. And so there’s always got to be something better, but nobody cares about that. I always leave a note in any hotel room when I stay – and I stay in a lot of hotels – just to say thank you very much for what you do; you made my stay really good; I really appreciate you, and so on. And I don’t always leave money. You know, it’s not about the money, you know, as a tip, because sometimes that devalues what you had to say. Though sometimes, in certain economic environments, you know, you do that.
A friend of mine gave me a great idea the other day. As we were getting onto an airplane, she had all these little Ziploc bags, and they had Chapstick and other things in them. And we sat down and the flight attendant came over and my friend says, “I have gifts for the crew.” And the flight attendant was like, “What?!” And my friend says, “I made all these for you guys.” And it was all really simple stuff, Bill – like a sanitary wipe and other really basic stuff, like a granola bar or whatever. And she brought six baggies, because she figured there would be both six flight attendants and pilots on the plane. I tell you, those people acted like she had got them into the most expensive restaurant, which they’d always wanted to go to. They were so happy. And I said to her, “Do you do this every time you fly?” And she says, “Yes. Every time I fly. I just make up a whole bunch of these, and take them with me when I fly.” I thought, “Yeah, because those people’s lives aren’t always that great.” Let’s face it, nobody cares until something isn’t great on the airplane. And then, sometimes people are, you know, less than kind. So for me, what motivates me here, is if I can help facilitate this, and if I can do this, and if I can have other people around me who are the same, then my life is worth living. And it’s worth spending like that – regardless of the fact that 100 years from now, no one may even know about it. I’ve come to a point where I don’t really care what you believe. I need to live by what I believe. And I need to make sure that what I believe comes down to really simple principles: love people, and live your life to express that and put yourself around people who do the same, in terms of your close circles of relationships.
Bill Locke:
So what’s next? You’ve been at this with Meticulon for ten years.
Garth Johnson:
Yeah, apart from my marriage, it’s the longest I’ve ever been at anything. And my marriage is approaching 35 years now, and it’s great. And this work is great. Meticulon and Auticon are able to help, in terms of employment, a few 100 people; MAS could help many thousands of people. And I think what I would like to focus the remainder of my career on, is helping facilitate and give away what we’ve learned to whoever will listen, whoever will apply. Because I think that’s how you create that ripple effect. I’m not talking about being on stages, presenting, or writing a book and doing all that. I’m talking about, practically, giving away the intellectual property, through our tools – sharing it, selling it, marketing it, licensing it – doing whatever it takes to help foster as much change as possible in the time we have. Because people with disabilities aren’t going to go away. You and I are going to end up with a disability, you know, that’s just how it is. And our society needs to understand that every person has a right to belong, and every person has a right to work. If you want to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, it’s about it’s not about “any and ors” – it’s just about “ands”. So, you know, BIPOC, people of color, Indigenous people, gender, disability, all of the areas of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). It’s not a slot that you tick for one. It’s this blending of homogeny in society that we need to focus on. And inclusion doesn’t include accommodation. Accommodation is a path to inclusion. And eventually, we have to get rid of the any kind of thought like “This is an accommodation.” We have to just say this is how it is. And if we can get there, and I can help do that in the next 10 years or 20 years, I’m never going to retire. You can quote me. I’m never going to stop doing something. I think we’re actually in a really interesting place right now, both as a country and as a planet, around these pieces. And when I think about the 1970s when I was in elementary school, people in many of the areas of equity and inclusion and diversity were ostracized, they were beat up, they were judged, they were mocked for who they were; out of ignorance sometimes, out of bigotry sometimes, and out of fear sometimes. But now, just in 30 or 40 years difference, we’re in a completely different environment. Where could we be 30 or 40 years from now?
Bill Locke:
There will never be no work for us, Garth – we’re always going to have something to do.
Garth Johnson:
But, you know, nothing for us without us, right? So, everybody has to be at the table.
Bill Locke:
I hope so. Well, thank you so much for being not only at the Kolbe Times table, but at the Meticulon table and this whole DEI table that you’re talking about, making it possible for everybody.
Garth Johnson:
It’s a pleasure to be here because for every bit of thing that we’ve accomplished, you’re standing right there, being able to take ownership of the fact that you helped us do that – and there are so many people that could be said for.
