David Burdoch
David Burdoch: chairman of Castle & Cooke.
David Burdock’s first break in the business realm was when a
stranger loaned him $1200 to buy a dying diner. He bought the
diner and quickly made it profitable. He sold that business and
bought another one, thus beginning a career that would be lead to
his rising to the chairmanship of Castle & Cooke and owning his own
Hawaiian island.
But Burdock’s first break in life came from his decision not to
give up on his dreams. Throughout his struggles with learning he
persevered, always believing he could do more.
There is only one thing that can stop you and that is yourself.
Don’t think of what you can’t do. The most powerful thing is the
realization of what you can do.
There was only one goal which exceeded his grasp. He lost his
first wife, Gabrielle, to cancer in the 1990s. Believing that good
nutrition might have prevented her death, he turned his
determination to founding the Dole Nutrition Institute in 2003.
Today he is one of the leaders of a strong movement in the
nutritional world to find foods that allow people to live longer
and healthy lives. He was the moving force behind the Encyclopedia
of Foods, A Guide to Healthy Nutrition.
Having dyslexia didn’t stop me anywhere, any way. It was probably
an advantage.
3) Edgar Allen Poe
poet and novelist, creator of three different
genres of writing
Born January 19, 1809
Died October 7, 1849
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore–
So wrote Edgar Allan Poe in his most famous work, The Raven. For
the dyslexic Poe, reading did leave him “weak and weary.” However,
Poe refused to be discouraged by his weakness.
Stupidity is a talent for misconception.
He also recognized certain aspects of the talent of dyslexia that
would not be discovered by science for another century.
The true genius shudders at incompleteness – and usually prefers
silence to saying something which is not everything it should be.
It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful,
and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.
Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity
of the intelligence.
If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this
thing is to be remembered.
Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite
horror of their reality.
He even saw the benefit of his unique perspective in his writing.
I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical
creation of Beauty
They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape
those who dream only by night.
2) Greg Louganis
One of the things my parents did when I was growing up: When they learned that there was a famous person with dyslexia, they would make sure I knew all about it. I think it was their way of letting me know there are successful dyslexics out there. In a way it made me feel … of all things… I cant believe I am going to say it…”SPECIAL”. (In a good way for once!) I use to think as a kid that we were all related some how… All the dyslexics had something that bound us. It’s what made me feel different than the other kids ,in a good way. For once I didn’t feel that I wasn’t smart enough or that I was retarded. I felt like I was part of a different type of people. Like we had some kind of genetic bond.
I was diagnosis Dyslexic after I flunked kindergarten of all things…They realized I wasn’t reading anything when I was “reading” my stories out loud in class.
I just rememberd the words that someone would read to me while I look at the picture on the page… then later I connected the words to that picture on the page… But the individual words or letters meant nothing to me, I couldn’t decode that … but I could connect the words to a picture.
So they held me back, and they “tested” me. It turns out: I don’t test well at all… (an understatement). I took these tests over and over again, getting lower scores each time, Let me say that again…the same tests over and over again… and my grade kept dropping lower and lower.So of course I was labeled with ”Special”, “Learning Disabled”or my favorite… “Educationally Retarded”…Thank You Child Study Team
To be more specific they ended up with a textbook case of Dyslexic… (And why is a disability for reading and spelling spelled so dam weird?)
So that helped me when I was feeling like an outcast and stupid when other kids could pick things up so easily. So I want to continue that tradition… I want to highlight a fellow Dyslexic as much as I can… I would love to hear your stories of how you were using your Dyslexic skills to get by… we are tricky learners…
Greg Louganis; American author and Olympic diver Born: January 29, 1960 For gold medal winner Greg Louganis, the discovery of his dyslexia came rather late. I didn’t know about dyslexia until I was a freshman in college. I knew I had trouble reading, but I didn’t know what that problem was, so when everyone was calling me stupid, moron, retard and all that, I thought they were right. I thought that was the reason I couldn’t read. When you’re a kid growing up…you know that you’re different; you’re often teased and it can really destroy your self-esteem. But sports can be great for building self-esteem. I’ve learned at the book signings that everyone has obstacles. I hope my story will help anyone who is facing adversity, especially young people.
1) Dyslexia and Business Acumen
Posted on: December 6, 2007 10:28 AM, by Jonah Lehrer
The data is hard to believe:
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 United States 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 percent – 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.
Keep in mind that only 10 percent of Americans are believed to have dyslexia, so the percentage of business owners with dyslexia is a very significant aberration. The explanation seems to be that children with dyslexia develop compensatory mechanisms that allow them to excel in business. They turn a potential disability into a new set of cognitive skills.
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 organizational ability — identifying trustworthy people and handing over major responsibilities to them — can be applied to businesses.”The willingness to delegate authority gives them a significant advantage over nondyslexic entrepreneurs, who tend to view their business as their baby and like to be in total control,” she said.
The larger moral of studies like this is that we should never underestimate the importance of neurodiversity. At first glance, dyslexia might seem like an unequivocal disability, a brain disorder that we’d be better off without. But nothing in the mind is that simple, is it?
Gallery
