Neuro- and cognitive diversity in surgery and allied professions: celebrating difference and optimising performance.

Neurotypicality (NT) and neurodiversity (ND) are two terms used to describe separate ways of thinking and experiencing the world. The prevalence of ND within surgery and allied professions is poorly studied or understood but is likely to be significant and increasing. If our aim is to be truly inclusive, ND's effects on teams and our willingness and ability to adapt adequately must improve.

The Leaning Tower of Pasta: Lessons in Team Performance and Creativity From a Core Surgical Training Boot Camp Design Challenge.

Aims: Unity of effort is an important component of strategic leadership and management theory associated with Core Surgical Training (CST) outcome. The aim was to determine the impact of team diversity on task completion: a creative design challenge, during CST Boot camp.

Methods: Attendees (n = 44) at a single Statutory Education Body's CST Boot camp were stratified into teams related to specialty theme, and set a design challenge as described by Peter Skillman, to build the tallest free-standing tower out of spaghetti (20 pieces), tape (1 m), and string (1 m), with a marshmallow on top in 18 minutes.