It has long been known that dyslexics are drawn to running their own businesses, where they can get around their weaknesses in reading and writing and play on their strengths. But a new study of entrepreneurs in the US suggests that dyslexia is much more common among small-business owners than even the experts had thought.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.”The study was based on a survey of 139 business owners in a wide range of fields across the US. Professor Logan called the number who said they were dyslexic “staggering”, and said it was significantly higher than the 20 per cent of British entrepreneurs who said they were dyslexic in a poll she conducted in 2001.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.But Professor Logan said hers was the first study that she knew of that tried to measure the percentage of entrepreneurs who have dyslexia. Emerson Dickman , President of the International Dyslexia Association in Baltimore said the study’s findings “just make sense”. “Individuals who have difficulty reading and writing tend to deploy other strengths,” Dickman, who has dyslexia, said.
