Are Dyslexia and Wealth Linked? Study Finds Individuals with Dyslexia More Likely to Be Millionaires (2024)

FAQs

Are Dyslexia and Wealth Linked? Study Finds Individuals with Dyslexia More Likely to Be Millionaires? ›

In an attempt to learn more about the minds of millionaires, a team of psychologists and business experts, spent a day testing a group of entrepreneurial millionaires. They were put through a series of tests. 40% of the 300 millionaires who participated in the more comprehensive study had been diagnosed with dyslexia.

Studies show that many millionaires have dyslexia

A study by Richard Branson's Virgin Group also found that 35% of successful entrepreneurs in the United States had dyslexia. This percentage is much higher than the 10% to 15% of people who have dyslexia in the general population.

However, recent studies have found a strong correlation between dyslexia and entrepreneurship. In fact, some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, including Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson, have been diagnosed with dyslexia.

Most dyslexics tend to remember facts as experiences, examples or stories, rather than abstractions. This means dyslexics have a very strong ability to learn from experience. Dyslexic individuals excel in fields where telling and understanding stories are important, like sales, counselling, trial law or even teaching.

Millionaire real estate mogul and Shark Tank investor Barbara Corcoran wasn't top of the class at school—in fact, she has previously called herself a straight-D student. She didn't know it then, but her grades were taking a hit because of her dyslexia.

“Twenty-five percent of CEOs are dyslexic, but many don't want to talk about it,” Chambers, who was Cisco's CEO between 1995 and 2005, told students at MIT last Thursday. It's not clear where Chambers sourced his claim, but the proportion appears to gel with various pieces of research conducted on the topic.

“Dyslexics are great explorers of information. This is the reason so many people with dyslexia become CEOs; they can turn complex information into ways to grow their organisation and juggle competing priorities effectively. In the simplest terms, dyslexia and strategic, innovative thinking go hand-in-hand,” says Boden.

Rather than being a sequential thinker going from one idea to the next, many dyslexics thrive in environment that allow and foster simultaneous thinking in which ideas are connected via different routes than a straight line. This is why we see so many entrepreneurs with dyslexia.

Researchers haven't found a clear answer to the question of whether people with dyslexia have different IQs than people without dyslexia. Some studies have shown no difference, while others have found that people with dyslexia may do better in certain areas, like speaking quickly or thinking in pictures.

Dyslexic strengths include:

 High levels of empathy.  Excellent big-picture thinkers.  Good at making connections.  Strong narrative reasoning.

Is dyslexia a form of genius? ›

Most people with dyslexia are, at least, average or above-average intelligence. Often children who fail to read and spell don't think of themselves as bright. It's very important that “dyslexic” students develop all their strengths. Technology is making life easier for children who struggle to read and write.

People with dyslexia tend to have poor working memory, speed of processing and rapid retrieval of information from long term memory. These weaknesses will also affect maths learning. 60% of learners with dyslexia have maths learning difficulties.

Research carried out by Julie Logan, professor of entrepreneurship at Cass Business School, found that 35% of U.S. company founders identified themselves as dyslexic, compared with 15% in the general population.

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple; Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Ikea; and Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett Packard each discuss how they overcame their dyslexia in the Business Insider photo article, “15 Successful CEO's with Learning Disabilities.” Learn how these business mavericks embraced their dyslexia as a ...

In an attempt to learn more about the minds of millionaires, a team of psychologists and business experts, spent a day testing a group of entrepreneurial millionaires. They were put through a series of tests. 40% of the 300 millionaires who participated in the more comprehensive study had been diagnosed with dyslexia.

Cher, Anderson Cooper, Robin Williams and Keira Knightley all share a common trait: Dyslexia. Six-time Emmy Award winning journalist Anderson Cooper is the face of news to millions across the world, but it's an accomplishment he never thought he'd achieve as a boy struggling to read.

What Percentage Of Dyslexic People Are Successful? In one UK study, researchers discovered that around 40% of millionaires classified as self-made are dyslexic. At least 25% of most CEOs are dyslexic, even though they may not be aware of it.

Rather than being a sequential thinker going from one idea to the next, many dyslexics thrive in environment that allow and foster simultaneous thinking in which ideas are connected via different routes than a straight line. This is why we see so many entrepreneurs with dyslexia.

Researchers haven't found a clear answer to the question of whether people with dyslexia have different IQs than people without dyslexia. Some studies have shown no difference, while others have found that people with dyslexia may do better in certain areas, like speaking quickly or thinking in pictures.