GUEST
Paul Micallef
Founder, Autism from the inside
APPEARED IN 1 EPISODE
Biography
Paul Micallef is a former Boeing aerospace engineer, autistic life coach, speaker, founder of Autism from the Inside, and facilitator of the Autistic Lived Experience Summit in Melbourne. After initially diagnosing himself as an engineer to understand his personal operating style, he later discovered his autism. Paul has since dedicated his work to bridging the gap between neurodiversity and emotional intelligence (EQ). Driven by his childhood struggle to decode social dynamics and a desire to move beyond arbitrary neuro-normative rules, Paul developed a structured, systems-based framework for emotional processing. Detailed in his book, Unlocking Your Emotional Brain, his approach models the brain and emotions as a logical feedback flowchart and adapts Daniel Goleman’s four-quadrant EQ model, creating a culturally agnostic framework that helps autistic individuals regulate emotions and navigate relationships without heavy masking. Professionally, Paul advocates for raising mainstream EQ so that neurodivergent workers are not forced to exert exhausting "superhuman EQ" or excess emotional labour just to survive in corporate environments. He champions practical inclusion tactics—such as camera-optional meeting policies, text-chat contributions during virtual discussions, non-verbal cues for sensory boundaries, and practising "consistency over intensity" in personal growth[8]. Through his platform, online courses (such as EQ 101), and corporate workshops, Paul provides structured emotional intelligence training tailored for technical organisations in IT and engineering.
