Student Number One was spanked by his teachers for

bad grades and poor attitude. He dropped out of

school at 16.

Student Number Two failed remedial English and came

close to flunking out of college.

Student Number Three feared he would never make it

through school and might not have without a tutor.

Student Number Four finally learned to read in third grade,

devouring Marvel Comics, whose pictures provided clues

to help him untangle the words.

Student #1 Richard Branson

• Developed Britain’s Virgin Records and Atlantic Airways

Richard Branson “At some point, I think I decided that being

dyslexic was better than being stupid.”

Student #2 Charles Schwab

• Created the Discount Brokerage Business

                                                          

Dyslexics don’t outgrow their problems. Reading and writing could be hard work all their lives.

Schwab – very strong in math, science and sports –but English was a disconnect. He couldn’t listen to a lecture and take notes.

He couldn’t memorize four words in a row.

  Brain's Lobes

Student #3 John Chambers

• CEO of CISCO

• Dyslexic

• Each year John Chambers increases Cisco’s profits by 2 billion dollars

Chambers – “This is very painful to talk about, even today. The

only reason I am talking about it is 100% for the kids and their

parents.”

You have just got to learn your way through it.

What works is to go a little slower.

Chambers reads

right to leftup and down

Student #4 David Boies

• Celebrated Trial Attorney

• The guy who beat Microsoft

• Dyslexic

Boies “It is a disability in learning. It is not an

intelligence disability. It doesn’t mean you can’t think.”

What do they have in common? They are all

Craig McCaw

• Billionaire – Cellular Industry

• Thinks differently – invented the cell phone because he couldn’t see why people would want to be tied to the wall by a six foot cord. All the other experts thought he was crazy. But he could vision a person standing in their front yard talking on a phone. No one else could.

Learning Disabilities have NOTHING to do with

intelligence.

John Reed

• Led Citibank to the top of the banking industry

Donald Winkler

• Headed up Ford Financial

Winkler remembers coming home from school bloodied by fights he’d had with kids who

called him dumb.

Gaston Caperton

• Former Governor of West Virginia

• Head of the College Board

If you can survive childhood, you will be great in the business

world.

Paul Orfala

• Founder of Kino’s 800 stores around the world

Orfala failed second grade and spend part of third in a class of mentally retarded children. He could not learn to read. He was

taken to testers, tutors, therapists, special reading groups, and eye

doctors. Nothing worked.

Orfala – As young classmates read aloud, I felt as if angels must be whispering the words in their

ears.

I have always been a bad reader. I was 40 years old before I would let anyone see my handwriting.

Never made it through high school.

Orfala in college did all the photocopying for his writing team working on a business

project. That copying gave him the idea for Kinko’s.

Diane Swonk

• Chief Economist of Bank One

• Can’t remember phone numbers

• Forgets which way to turn when she gets off the elevator.

• Forgets which number is her train

Bill Samuels, Jr.

• President of Maker’s Mark

• Dyslexichttp://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=anim/plastic

Think in 3D

Like having a CAD in your brain

Thinking in MOVIESnot words

Winston Churchill

• Prime Minister of Great Britain

• Writing and reading problems

Albert Einstein

• Physicist and Mathematician

• Greatest mind of the 20th century

Dyslexics think outside the box.

Cerebral Cortex Neurons

Hippocampus Neurons

Dyslexics don’t outgrow their problems. They learn to manage

them. Without coaching, the problems can snuff out dreams

and make people give up.

Dyslexia

Superstar

• Whoopi Goldberg

• Actress and Superstar

Scott Adams - Dilbert

Jay Leno

Tonight Show

Bill Hewlitt – HP Laserjets

Leonardo Da Vinci