Study traces business acumen to dyslexia

The report, compiled by Julie Logan, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Cass Business School in London, found that more than a third of the entrepreneurs she had surveyed — 35 per cent—- identified themselves as dyslexic. The study also concluded that dyslexics were more likely than nondyslexics to delegate authority, to excel in oral communication and problem solving and were twice as likely to own two or more businesses.

“We found that dyslexics who succeed had overcome an awful lot in their lives by developing compensatory skills,” Professor Logan said in an interview. “If you tell your friends and acquaintances that you plan to start a business, you’ll hear over and over, ‘It won’t work. It can’t be done.’ But dyslexics are extraordinarily creative about maneuvering their way around problems.”

She attributed the greater share in the US to earlier and more effective intervention by American schools to help dyslexic students deal with their learning problems. Approximately 10 per cent of Americans are believed to have dyslexia, experts say.

One reason that dyslexics are drawn to entrepreneurship, Professor Logan said, is that strategies they have used since childhood to offset their weaknesses in written communication and organisational abilities — identifying trustworthy people and handing over responsibilities to them — can be applied to businesses.

William J Dennis Jr, senior research fellow at the Research Foundation of the National Federation of Independent Business, said the study’s results “fit into the pattern of what we know about small-business owners”.

“Entrepreneurs are hands-on people who push a minimum of paper, do lots of stuff orally instead of reading and writing... all of which suggests a high verbal facility,” he said.

Fortune Magazine ran a cover story five years ago about dyslexic business leaders, including Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways and John T Chambers, chief executive of Cisco.

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