Perpendicular Perspectives & Alternate Realities

"When Alan Meckler, the CEO of IT and online imagery hub Jupitermedia was accepted to Columbia University in 1965, the dean's office told him he had some of the lowest college boards of any student ever admitted. 'I got a 405 or 410 in English,' he recalls. 'In those days you got a 400 just for putting your name down! Yet I was on the dean's list every year I was there, and I won a prize for having the best essay in American history my senior year.'

"It wasn't until years later, at age 58, that Meckler learned he was dyslexic. He struggles with walking and driving directions, and interpreting charts and graphs. He prefers to listen to someone explain a problem to him, rather than sit down and read 20 pages describing it…

"Many of the coping skills dyslexics learn in their formative years become best practices for the successful entrepreneur. A child who chronically fails standardized tests must become comfortable with failure. Being a slow reader forces you to extract only vital information, so that you're constantly getting right to the point. Dyslexics are also forced to trust and rely on others to get things done—an essential skill for anyone working to build a business…

"Paul Orfalea, who founded the copy-and-graphics chain Kinko's 37 years ago, has both dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. He proudly attributes much of his business success to an inability to do things most others can. 'I would always hire people who didn't have my skills,' he says. 'My secret was to get out of their way and let them do their job.' …

"Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers says dyslexia helps him step back and see the big picture… 'Dyslexia forces you to look at things in totality and not just as a single chess move. I play out the whole scenario in my mind and then work through it. … All of my life, I've built organizations with a broad perspective in mind.'

"Of course, being a misfit often lends itself to great entrepreneurship. Health-care entrepreneur and real estate magnate James LeVoy Sorenson has more than 40 medical patents to his name… He also dropped out of community college at 18, and was told by grade-school teachers he was either 'slow-witted or developmentally disabled.'

"At 86, Sorenson says overcoming dyslexia trained him to be persistent and solve problems in new ways: 'I like to add one word to the end of many sentences: yet. Instead of saying, I can't do it, I say, I can't do it—yet'."

(“Why Dyslexics Make Great Entrepreneurs.” Gabrielle Coppola. Business Week online. December 12, 2007.)

OBJECTIVE, SCIENTIFIC REALITY once again yields to subjective personal perspective. How we see and feel are the hinges upon which the tangible world swings to and fro.