CEO Pete Kight on Family, Work, Life

A successful entrepreneur shares his story as an adult with attention deficit disorder.

Pete Knight: Garden Canopy
Pete Knight: Garden Canopy

I was the original ADD child. I didn’t know it then. I was always fighting with teachers. They wanted to do one thing; I wanted to do something more interesting.

My son, Preston, was diagnosed with ADD in the first grade. I asked his psychiatrist where it comes from and he said, “You are a poster child for it. You are exactly like your son.” ADD is still an issue for me-the process I have to go through to try to sit still in meetings. It’s a challenge.

I had the doctor give me the same medication my son got, so I would know what he was going through. I took it for a month. I got a lump in my throat when I thought how much it would help him. In school, my life was barely under control.

The person who taught me to accept responsibility and not dwell on things was my maternal grandmother. She gave me a clear understanding of how you’re better off dealing with facts and focusing on how to achieve from there.

Excerpted from The New York Times.