Andre Ankri: Turning ADHD, AI, and Radical Candor into Leadership Superpowers

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. Today’s guest is Andre Ankri , a veteran entrepreneur and AI automation consultant who helps leaders work smarter without burning out. Originally from Israel and now based in Canada, Andre brings a military mindset to modern business through his work Leading Matador, where he helps companies use AI and automation to reduce friction, reclaim time, and build stronger teams. Andre is also a passionate advocate for extreme honesty, being radically candid about strengths, limits, and systems, and for neurodiversity, openly sharing how ADHD, dyslexia and Ocpd have become leadership superpowers rather than obstacles. His perspective blends human intuition, technology and mission driven leadership focused on clarity, trust and sustainable performance. Andre, welcome to the show.

Andre Ankri : Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be to be a guest. And thank you for the invite.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I’m excited to have you on with me today. So, Andre, will you tell us just a little bit more about you?

Andre Ankri : Yeah. Uh, so my name is Andre. I grew up in Israel. I moved to Canada around almost 15 years ago. Uh, kind of as the background of growing up. Uh, I’m the oldest from four boys. Uh, I trained for over 15 years in karate. That is kind of embedded in me, I guess, for disciplined. Uh, I serviced, uh, IDF. Israeli army as a technical, uh, fighter, engineer, uh, dealing with kind of explosive. That was a very interesting job. Uh, as I mentioned, I immigrated to Canada almost a bit less than 15 years ago. Uh, I built my first company, uh, in Canada, uh, called UTS Group. That is a security integration and design company that we service, uh, pretty much Canada and the US, uh, in the commercial area, working also a lot with municipalities, uh, the police army kind of helping them. How to automate security. Uh, through my journey, I also own another glazing, uh, commercial glazing company. So we do a glass and aluminum work again in the commercial area. Uh, and kind of my, let’s call it, uh, the thing is more for the for the soul than a business is matador. A matador is a business consultation that we focus on AI automations, uh, helping businesses to bring them up to, usually until a few days ago, set to 2025, but to 2026, uh, technology and to kind of understand how to manage businesses smarter, uh, from a place of how to work smarter, not harder, uh, and how to communicate better and create a better communication through systems.

Andre Ankri : Uh, and a lot of them is, is kind of more based on my experience. Uh, I’m, I’m very proud to have ADHD, Ocpd and I’m a, again, a level five dyslexic. Uh, but I’m showing people how these these things are not in obstacles. I call them superpowers. And today, especially with AI, it’s kind of bridging the gap, and I really like to share it with people and educate around it and show them that. It’s like I said, it’s not an obstacle. Like there is things that coming with have ADHD. For a mind that is able to run faster and pay attention for more details, uh, that it’s it’s an amazing tool that I call it a gift from God. Uh, that when I grew up and understand and become more honest with myself, uh, I understand it’s actually how it helped me in a lot of areas, even when as a kid training karate and competing as well in, in the Army, uh, that all of that is the thing that kind of creating our personality and creating us to be unique. So it’s it’s not a it’s not a disease. It’s not a, an issue. It’s not a disability. Uh, it’s a gift.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that. And one of the reasons why I wanted you to come and join me on the show, because there’s so much for us to unpack today. I’d love to start with because you’re demonstrating it as you were introducing yourself and talking about the things that you’ve done over your lifetime and the things that you’ve been dealing with and the superpowers that you have that you have. And that’s extreme honesty. So you talk about extreme honesty as a turning point for you. What does that actually look like in day to day leadership, and why is it so uncomfortable for most founders?

Andre Ankri : So there are a few things related to that one. First of all, it’s something there is different type of owners. So we have a people that built a company so they have a job. The people that own a company and they’re operating the company, so I don’t call them business owners. They’re business operators because the business is not able to work without them. And then there is the higher level that is coming with your level of leadership that you actually become a business, a business owner, because you own a business, you don’t work in the business. The business is not needing you. And also part of honesty, everybody starts a business so they have a job. When I start my first business, I have a young kid. I moved to Canada. I just got married. Uh, it was not about building something. That was. I didn’t find my why back then. My why was I need an income? I need to put food on the table, uh, and with with growth and kind of understanding, you understand to which level of a business owner you are and also understanding where you are. Good. For me personally, it came that the company grew quite a lot. And then I understand that in order to take it to the next step. I have to go to a very big, two very big obstacles. One, it’s my emotional connection to the company.

Andre Ankri : Uh, I was saying for many, many years when people were talking about my business, I said, this is my baby. And it was a very foolish thing for me to say. I have two babies. I have my son and I have my daughter. They are my only babies. Uh, and a lot of people are connecting to their business emotions, and it’s making them hard to make decisions because emotional connections are not being actual honest of what needs to be done. Uh, on my company for UTS, the second company growth, I had to come to a place of honesty to know if I want to take the company to the next step, and I really want to sustain the company. There is one person that was a very important part in the company, but now is a liability, and that person is me. I need to get out. I’m interfering. Uh, and it’s coming for a place to understand what type of a business person I am. I’m not an operator. I’m not a person that fit to operate a company because I like excitement. I play to my ADHD. I like stuff moving. So I’m a I’m a leader. That is good. When there is a crisis, a good or a bad one, a crisis of growth. Crisis of almost again company losing money. A I’m a good leader when we want to launch something new and to run different ideas and to get stuff.

Andre Ankri : But I’m not the right leader to run a business to sustain. And in the words of Jim Rohn, he’s saying there’s two different types of businesses. There’s an exciting business, and there’s a boring business. Exciting business is losing money, a boring business is making money. And it’s not boring because what you do is boring is about sustainability of the system, the way it’s growing. I’m not able to manage a boring business because I will create an excitement and then I’ll create something. And it’s also not fair for my team because I’m not giving them structure. I’m not giving them stability because I will see something and say, you know, guys, all right, we’re going to start opening another branch in Alaska because I saw something, I came with an idea and now I want to go with that because I need excitement as a person that have ADHD. And over the years, it’s kind of a met to kind of understand what is honesty. Honesty is understanding that if someone did a mistake and I’m very strict in my businesses, I believe in the two two mistake rule. The first mistake. Sorry. True true true mistake rule. So the first one is if someone did a mistake, it’s an amazing thing because you will learn from mistakes.

Andre Ankri : Everybody’s parents told us not to touch the fire. We all touched it. And then we learn it’s we’re going to get burned the second time. Someone will do a mistake. You I will. Your question is like, hey, you spoke about it. We. We discuss it. It happened again the third time. We’re not a good fit. And if by implementing kind of that type of rules of kind of fitting with people how to work. It’s also understand that doesn’t matter who did the mistake in the company. I push people to do mistakes. I’m very proud of my mistakes. They are my biggest achievements in life. Every every mistakes. Every person that, uh, did harm to me stole from me. And I had a lot of stories over the years from employees stealing, uh, almost crushing the companies. And every person I see today, I’ll be hugging them and say thank you because they pushed me to do better. Uh, this is kind of how we learned, but any person that did a mistake, if someone did something wrong to me, all the employee that stole my client list or my business plan, I didn’t keep my business plan safe enough. I didn’t keep my cards where I needed to. It’s. There is only one person’s fault. It’s my fault. If an employee did a mistake, I didn’t provide enough training. Or if he did.

Andre Ankri : Many times I didn’t stop it in a way to maybe that person had to be replaced. So as my team, I always telling them doesn’t matter what mistakes you did, let’s learn from it. The end of the day, it’s all my mistakes again. It’s all coming back to me. It’s my fault to deal with that. And it’s that to be honest. And the honesty in that part is a part of a maturity as a leader to understand that one. It’s okay to do mistakes. We don’t need to cut people’s head. And I was never like that all the time. I learned over the years, uh, when I look back, I think I was very aggressive and maybe even abusive, uh, manager person to work for. Uh, and I lost good people around the way, but I had to get mature and understand better from it. Uh, but there is understanding that stuff. Mistake will happen. You cannot make a system that is bulletproof is setting up. When we setting up process is how to measure it. What is what is the success? What is a failure? What is the value of the failure of that stuff? How we going to make sure that it’s going to happen? And even if I take everything in consideration that something will never happen again, as someone steal my business plan or a client list I can never expect for 100%.

Andre Ankri : Sustainability is always for me. At 70%, I create system that can give me a steady 70%, maybe a little bit more, but I’m always expecting that there will be a failure one we’re going to learn from it. Business change need is changing, so you need to be aware of stuff is happening and not to be surprised if something is making a mistake. Like even if I do security for our office and everything will, someone will stop someone from breaking in. It depends. If it’s worth it, they will. There is always a way. So if I come in the morning and I see that the window is broken, maybe there was a good reason. And this is why we pay insurance. So why? Why to kill the day and getting upset or giving shit to someone about it. It’s a it’s not worth it. I’m not saying that sometimes, you know, we give this shit, but it’s it’s to be aware and understand everything. And just to be honest and part of myself, be honest with myself. I’m not very open for people that aren’t honest. So the team around me has to be extremely honest and honest, saying like people that I like. If someone come to me and say, Andre, the idea you came in the meeting, it’s stupid. I would like for me it’s like the best thing.

Andre Ankri : It’s like, okay, tell me why, prove me wrong, please prove me wrong. People that will say the opposite, they say, Andre, your idea was so great. I’m like, okay, you’re not for me. I want the guy that said that I’m stupid and tell me and how I can actually learn from him. And this is kind of more understanding. And it’s honesty also related to curiosity. If you want to be curious, you have to be honest of what you don’t know. If I’m a meeting with my accountant and he’s using a word I don’t know, I need to stop and say, hey, what is that word? It doesn’t make me last. I’m just honest. I don’t know it. And I’m curious to know more. So that is pretty much in a recap kind of my approach that has changed me as honesty and just to be honest with myself. It’s also a very it’s feel very lighter to be honest. Some people find it to be. I have a sign that actually I got from my wife that that’s saying I don’t sugarcoat. My name is not Willy Wonka. Uh, and it’s just because I just say the truth in the face for people. And some people are not ready for it because they’re not honest with themselves, but we cannot control them. So it’s it’s a mindset in the end of the day.

Trisha Stetzel: But I love that, um, everything that you talked about here really surrounds personal responsibility and mindset, going from being an operator to an owner. It’s a mindset shift. You have to think about your business differently. You can’t call it your baby when it’s your business, and that’s a mindset shift. And taking the personal responsibility when things are happening around you, that it’s something that you can control and it’s something that you can do something about, and having the right people on your team, doing the right things in the right way. Uh, all of that is so important. Thank you for sharing all of that. And I love the idea of extreme honesty. And I like Willy Wonka too, but I do like Sugar Coated every once in a while. I’m just kidding. Yeah, I’m just kidding. Um, I would love to talk about how, um, your superpower, um, and the misunderstanding around neurodiversity, because a lot of people wouldn’t say that ADHD, dyslexia, and Ocpd are a superpower. So let’s talk more about the way that has shaped the way you think. Prioritize and build systems that you’ve been talking about.

Andre Ankri : So ADHD the the way that my wife again, so my son, my two kids have ADHD as well. And when my son, my oldest son was actually diagnosed, my wife told me about it and she was like, he got diagnosed with ADHD and she is a person that does not have it and she’s a social worker. It came from a place kind of more giving me a, a message about something happened and my response to it is like, great, I’m so happy for him. And she’s like, yeah, but I told him it will be hard, but I’m super happy for him. And the same thing happened after that with my younger daughter. And the reason that ADHD over the years, again, as a kid, I never was medicated. Uh, and now as an adult, I do see it very important for me to get medicated because again, the body change and we need more. I’m not as active as I was when I was younger, so I need something to calm me down and understanding that, yes, ADHD. There is a lot of great things I can. When we discuss, I can speak with someone, for example in a meeting and he will give me an idea. By the time he finished the idea, I already have a business plan running in my head because it’s like I have a few different computers running at the same time, and only on stuff that’s interesting. If it’s something that isn’t me, my head is just going to something else and I’m disconnecting. It’s it’s a it’s kind of a gift and a problem sometimes in the same time.

Andre Ankri : And you need to know how to balance it. But I kind of took it to a place. I’m a very curious person, as I mentioned earlier. And I give you example. So for example, my office, uh, all my team is sitting in a different office. My office is literally a separate unit in the building that is only myself. As you see behind me, I have a lot more windows. All my windows are always shut, so I cannot see anyone moving around because I’m on a main floor usually. Now the light is on, but usually the light is off so I don’t see anything. I have a front of me five screens. Every screen has a job. This is more my Ocpd, so there is one as the main one for browser, one for my AI, one for my chats. Everything has to be organized by having everything very extremely organized. And my again, my my office is like a China store. Everything is in its place, very organized. It’s coming a lot of boxes in my head. So let’s say the box about organizations. The second everything is super organized, I don’t have to think about it. Nothing is like, oh yeah, I have to put that. No, no, no. Every place, everything has a place for it to come. I have a charger for every device related in my on my table. Everything is in reach of a hand. I don’t have to get up because if I get up, most likely something will take my attention and I’ll do something else.

Andre Ankri : So I’m, I’m I’m sitting in a very specific way. My back is to the window. So even if there will be something happen, not there. I’m using headphones with noise cancellation. So even if someone will speak from the second floor or the next, it’s I’m focused on what I need to do. So it’s helping myself to eliminate a lot of other stuff. What it’s creating me more space of capability in my head to do a in my head, to do a other stuff, to utilize the space of the running power. And the biggest thing that I that I found. So, for example, when I come to a client to sit in his office, every person office has showing about his personality. So I’m coming to do kind of a sale. If I come to someone’s office and I see in his office a I’ll see in his office that his office is there is no anything private in the office. Everything in the office is very generic. There is no picture of kids. There’s no picture of going golfing or cars or anything. It’s pretty much telling me, all right, this person, always new for the job or is not that invested for sure is not the owner without even saying to me because he doesn’t, there is no ownership to the place is is going and or is the place doesn’t feel comfortable. And it started only from that. And from that I start taking it to kind of much, much wider of understanding people.

Andre Ankri : And I found that the ADHD allowed me to, as I speak with someone to kind of analyze all of that information. It’s kind of more become as a game because when people are coming and meeting. There is a lot of stuff of common things that happened. I, let’s say, as a technician, is coming to provide an estimate for in your house to to kind of a, let’s say, fix the dishwasher. And by going over there, you okay? I’m you expect someone to come with a commercial van. Maybe a pickup. He will work a cargo pants or jeans. Uh, he will have a binder or tablet to write information. And you have a toolbox. This is what your head is expecting someone to come and to do what you do. If that person comes in with a suit, how are you going to feel? Something does not match here. I took that approach and I embedded in our business. So I’m the person that actually coming in the suit for again to the commercial sites. And I found that I was able instead of me fitting to a template to a boxing people what they expect will happen from that meeting. Uh, people were actually I was able to open my own box and to utilizing data that can run the information much, much faster and to create a different experience through that. And that is kind of as an example on sales. And we did it in different areas of the businesses that I do of analyzing, of able to go more deep research, understand who is my clientele, what they want.

Andre Ankri : And today with Matador, a lot of companies, what they want from a consultation say, Andre, we have an idea for a product. We want to do a product that will do that and that. And then we’re doing a session on say, okay, who is your client? How are you going to reach out to him? Why are they going to go? And the ADHD is able for me to go very, very broad, very, very wide of understanding people better. Of course, it’s not only ADHD. I love reading, I like I said, I curious. I read a lot of books of understanding everything, but it’s able to work for me that I’ll have a much bigger library to work with everything and that I’m utilizing kind of all the tools and eliminating the stuff is bugging me to higher production. And this is kind of the, the, the benefit that’s coming from that, coming from that. Uh, and it’s this is what I’m saying. It’s a gift. I, I enjoy it. Uh, enjoy it a lot. And I when people kind of even when I remember as an adult I was supposed to kind of I got rediagnosed again and they asked me about medication. I, I was very afraid that something would take it for me, because I’m afraid that it will create my way of thinking to be narrower, that I’m not able to kind of see stuff in a more wide way.

Andre Ankri : And now, specifically with implementation of AI, what I call the the technology revolutions we are going through right now, that we’re very lucky to be part of it. You can take it to the next level Because now I have more tools to kind of helping me even to again, do a few things at the same time and review a few things in, in the same time and communicate with more people and and to share and automated more ideas. Like I have a tool of AI saying to me, pretty much, I can do whatever you want if you know how to use me properly. And for me, it’s a huge sandbox. It’s it’s amazing. And we’re creating crazy things that allow us to also to grow as a company. And everything is coming from understanding for the ADHD. And the other thing about ADHD, it came back to the honesty. A person with ADHD cannot be an operator. This is how I understand of who, what type of a leader I am, what type of a manager of who I’m able to work with. And that again is the best gift I got from God. And this is why I call it a superpower. Because any any gift we get, if a person know how to paint or you know how to play the piano or anything if you’re actually seeing it as a gift and he’s focusing around it, it will become a superpower eventually. So it’s kind of our choose if you want to activate our superpower or not.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Again, back to that personal responsibility and taking responsibility for yourself and the superpowers that you have and the way you think about them, the way you think about the things that you have right there in your hand, right, or in your body or in your mind. I love that you started to integrate, um, the discussion around AI as well as neurodiversity or neurodiversity. And I see how that you’re using them together. But I also think, uh, and you’ve talked a lot about this as well, that human judgment, intuition and trust are so important. So for those who are listening, how do we balance Andre between technology and that actual human interaction, that judgment, that intuition and trust that we have, how do we balance those two things?

Andre Ankri : I think, first of all, about a human interaction. So as a like a lot of people kind of share with them and I tell them I’m a very shy person and like, you’re not shy at all. I told him I’m not shy because I choose not to be shy. Shy, but as as a person. I was again a very introvert in a in a way. But the second that I understand why I was introvert, because I was thinking about stuff that, for example, my head again, ADHD is also related to a lot of negative thinking, and the ADHD actually made me to be think that I’m an introvert because if I don’t think positive, be positive, I did. You take me okay, you’re not good enough. Or if you, as a person who kind of was was fighting with my my weight is like, okay, you’re overweight so that people is over there that you hear them whispering, they’re talking about you. And by being honest with myself saying, this is who I am, I do the stuff that is making me feel good. So for me, for example, as a kid when I was, uh, kind of someone will ask me kind of what I want to be when I’ll be older. I’ll tell them a profession. But for me, what was actually I want to wear suits.

Andre Ankri : I don’t know what I want to do yet as a kid, but I really love to see how people wearing suits. I find it to be very, very nice. So my goal was, doesn’t matter what I’m going to do, I want to wear a suit. But I found a suit was much more than that. It was what I call my armor, because then it gave me my kind of confidence. Because now I start my morning and I started with, with a success of doing something that I want positive. I’m wearing something that I like that make me feel good. So my interaction with other people of understanding this is who I am. I’m doing what is good for me and I’m fulfilled with myself. I’m okay with understanding why am I don’t think that I’m less than other people? And this is why I don’t, uh, you know, I as a person, I get if you go on my email and everything, I don’t have a title. You’ll never see it saying CEO or even on my email, but the only thing I wear is kind of as brass on my shoulder is my ADHD and dyslexia and stuff like that. That is kind of the the opposite, uh, from it, because I’m very proud of who I am.

Andre Ankri : Like, it’s, uh, it’s not something I say, okay, it’s an issue. Okay. I cannot do it because that and that. No, it’s it’s it’s who I am. And the second I’m okay with who I am, it’s okay. I don’t really care about what other people is, is saying about me because I know, of course, I care about other people opinions or feelings, but I don’t allow them to affect about myself. The AI part is helping us. Where we’re struggling is where we can take areas that we have issues with, and to create them to be, to be better is, for example, it’s from a place of a organization. If in a place for remind me about you need to do something or to organize my stuff so I won’t forget about it. Ai is a tool I always combine when people saying, we read a lot of stuff about AI, about how dangerous and will take people jobs and stuff like that. And I’ll say AI won’t take people jobs. Someone that know how to use AI will take people’s jobs. Uh. But AI is a tool. It’s the same thing as if the. If a drill, a new drill will come up that has new features, bigger battery and everything. Every company will want to use it. Ai is a drill.

Andre Ankri : We just need to learn how to use it. And we need to be curious enough and willing to put the work to see how it can help me. And today I actually read an article this week. Over 95% of the people using AI don’t know how to use it. They think they know how to use it, but they don’t know how to use it. And because nobody is actually putting the effort to train it, to understand it, to be curious of how it’s supposed to be, there are more. Want to say, hey, yeah, of course I’m using AI to answer my emails. It’s not what AI was designed for. If you wanted to answer your emails, you don’t have to use it. You will answer your emails for you. But it’s not what was was designed that they didn’t understand the tools they have. They pretty much using the drill as a way to hold papers. And that is kind of more as as curiosity and understanding of saying, first of all, like I said, happy with my happy with myself, who I am and the way I present to other people and AI how it can help me for The force is a tool how I can use it. So it’ll be easier for me to communicate when I’m talking with people.

Andre Ankri : Uh, so let’s say if I’m in a meeting, if I will start writing notes during a meeting with you, it will be hard for me to focus as a person that have ADHD. So AI has a note taker and we’ll activate it during our meeting. And now I can be focused on you. So it’s bridging the gap. If I write you a text freely myself, you won’t understand it. There’ll be like 50,000 spelling mistakes. So I’ll speak to my phone. He will fix my grammar. And then he’ll send it to you. And you’ll bridge me the gap. Because before that, I was shy to send people texts because they say, hey, it’s a mature person. He’s writing with the spelling mistakes. So this is the areas we can use that tools to help us as a tool, not a solution, not a replacement. But first of all, it’s about us being fulfilled with ourselves. And I’m okay with who I am, regardless if I have ADHD or not and not allowed people around us to say affect us and just be happy with ourselves. And for me, it’s starting from a small thing I wear in the morning. What? The stuff is making me happy. So I start my morning with the success and this is how my approach going forward.

Trisha Stetzel: I love this, uh, coming all the way full circle to extreme honesty. Not just with others, but with ourselves and what we bring to the table and the superpowers that we have. Um, okay. As we wrap up, remind us a little bit about UTS Group. Tell us what you’re doing in that particular business, and then I’d love for you to give us your contact information, because I know people really want to connect with you on what we talked about today.

Andre Ankri : Yeah. So UTS Group is our security integration. It’s a it’s a business security a related to automation business. And kind of the mentoring consultation I do. It’s under Matador and people can reach out to me on my LinkedIn. I. I post content daily about different hacks and processes that I built and even for my morning routine, how I build it to help me as a person have ADHD. So Andre exactly as my name under LinkedIn or on my email for Andre André at youth group. And again, they can reach out to me directly. I would love to help.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. This has been such a great conversation. Andre, I think you’re going to have to come back later this year so we can expand on some of the things that we touched on just a little bit today. Would you be willing to do that?

Andre Ankri : I would love to. It will be a pleasure.

Trisha Stetzel: I would love that. Uh, all right, you guys, as always, I will put all of Andre’s contact information in the show notes. If you’re looking for him on LinkedIn, it’s a n d r a n k r I. That’s how you’ll find him on LinkedIn. Again. The links will be in the show notes. If you want to just point and click if you’re at your computer again. Andre, thank you for your time today. It has been my pleasure to host you.

Andre Ankri : Thank you very much for inviting me. Looking forward to meeting with you again. Have a great day.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you. All right, guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that I had with Andre, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, veteran or Houston business leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and review the show. Of course, it helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.