Navigating Toxic Partnerships: What Every ADHD Entrepreneur Needs to Know

Ever found yourself dreading your own company or feeling like you are going to war every time you walk into the office? Wondering how you, the founder or CEO, can be the most miserable person in your own business? If you are an ADHD Entrepreneur, you know these questions hit home—and maybe a little too close for comfort.

Don’t feel like reading? Listen to the episode.

Spotting the Slow Burn: When Partnership Goes Toxic

A healthy business partnership should feel like having a second brain, not a migraine. But as Paul Gardner shared on the podcast, sometimes toxicity creeps in so slowly you do not notice until the damage is done. “You just don’t even realize it’s happening,” Paul said. At first, you are optimistic—rose-colored glasses and all. But over time the dynamic changes. Arguments fester, moods crash, and suddenly, your 100-person team is split into camps, each picking sides, and no one wants to be anywhere near the boardroom when you and your partner are in the same room.

Paul said it best: “The hardest part of it was the impact on the people around us…The game playing that goes on with team members…It really impacted the running of the business and the relationships within that business.”

If you are feeling a gut punch reading that, know you are not the only one. We have all been there—trusting the wrong people or ignoring those first bad vibes-gut feels. You might even start thinking you are a “dumbass” for missing the early red flags. You know what?  Some of us have been there.

When Your Body Knows Before You Do

This is not just business. It’s your mental health and your family’s peace too. When you start counting the days until a heart attack or losing sleep because you cannot shut off your brain, it is a neon sign that things have gone sideways. I’ve been there myself, thinking I could fix everything by brute force and optimism—only to smash into the same wall repeatedly. Paul nailed it with, “I still think about it for sure. But where I sit today—I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been through that mess.”

Choosing to walk away is not selfish. It is what keeps you alive—not just as an entrepreneur, but as a human. Shame, guilt, the feeling of failure? That is just fear of letting go and thinking you are supposed to make everything work all the time.

Get Help, Trust Your Gut, Build Your Pillars

The hardest thing is knowing when to make a call and stick to it. For Paul, the turning point came from stepping back, reflecting, and getting outside help—a psychologist who specialized in talking to business owners. “You need a gut check,” he said. “Getting that outside opinion…would be my number one.”

Here is the takeaway: Don’t trust your brain when it’s fried. Trust your gut. Listen to your body when something is off. Ask for help. Talk to another entrepreneur who has been there. And after you leave, do not just jump into the next adventure. Take real time off to think, reflect, and figure out what matters to you. Build your own “pillars”—the things you will never compromise on in future partnerships. That is how you protect yourself from the same trap again.

Community Means Not Doing This Alone

Here is the truth: every ADHD Entrepreneur who is feeling stuck, burned out, or isolated by a toxic work environment needs to know there is a pack out here. We get it. We’ve walked out of boardrooms with battle scars. And we have come back stronger.

If you are struggling right now, here is what you can do next:

1. Listen to your gut—don’t talk yourself out of those early warnings.

2. Reach out. Find a mentor, a specialist, or a fellow Entrepreneur with partnership battle stories.

3. Take real time off after leaving a toxic place—don’t just dive into the next big thing.

4. Write out your values and non-negotiables (“pillars”) for the future.

5. If you need to talk it out, reach out to andre@theimpulsivethinker.com. You don’t have to figure this out alone.

Let’s keep building a community where we don’t just survive toxic partnerships, we get wiser, stronger, and set ourselves (and our teams) up for real happiness.

Your future self will thank you for not pushing through one more day of misery. Let’s break the cycle—together. blog with somebody you think will appreciate it. Talk soon!