Dismiss dyslexics at your peril – we might just be the key to supercharging your business

Dyslexia is rarely celebrated, but there are many reasons why it should be. Although living with a different learning style hasn’t necessarily been plain sailing for me, I’ve increasingly come to see my dyslexia as its own superpower.

This isn’t just because I’m in illustrious company – sharing my form of neurodivergence with the likes of Steven Spielberg, John Lennon, and Richard Branson – but due to the growing body of research that suggests people with diverse ways of thinking and working can significantly improve productivity, sometimes by as much as 30%.

I therefore feel it’s time to start championing the benefits conditions such as dyslexia can unlock instead of mislabelling and dismissing them as potential barriers to efficiency.

Seeing the bigger picture

As with any neurodivergent characteristic, my dyslexia hasn’t always been easy to live with. I struggled with schoolwork growing up and, when I joined the workplace, I’d have to regularly ask my colleagues to check my emails as my thoughts would come out jumbled. My children are also dyslexic and – as I often tell them – we have to work harder at times to achieve the same results as others. In contrast, however, I also regularly note that better understanding the way our brains are wired, can help turn this difference into an advantage.

Dyslexia provides unique strengths, particularly in areas like problem-solving. As a business leader, I tend to take a top-line view of situations and consider multiple elements, perspectives, and variables; A.K.A looking at all aspects of the bigger picture at once.

This kind of lateral thinking and the pattern recognition it enables isn’t exclusive to my condition, it’s also common among individuals with autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In my specific case, being able to simplify complex challenges by spotting the connections and correlations others might miss has been extremely valuable, especially in today’s fast-evolving, tech-driven workplace.

The power of a “zoomed out” approach was brought into sharp focus a few years back during our management buyout. In key conversations with our ex-parent company, the banks, the lawyers, and every other stakeholder, I vividly remember how my ability to look beyond specific sticking points and map the outcomes of varied solutions helped me lead the negotiations with confidence. It was an incredibly stressful period but also my time to shine and a key career-defining moment.

You might say that dyslexia allows people to see the wood for the trees and find the right path to what they want; be that simply getting out of the thicket or to a desired destination.

Powering innovative creativity

In 2022, researchers at the UK’s University of Cambridge found people with dyslexia have “enhanced abilities” across several categories, covering discovery, invention, and creativity. Noting that the study group demonstrated what they dubbed an “explorative bias”, the researchers went as far as to say that these traits have proved essential to human survival by helping us constantly adapt to change.

For me, this links to a fundamental flair for innovation, which certainly seems to be true in my working experience. The aforementioned big-picture thinking is part of this, but so are other skills such as visualisation. Being able to imagine abstract concepts in visual form is crucial to enable many types of creative development, such as defining what new products or services might look like (think 3D mental modelling) and planning how the key benefits of these offerings can be showcased through engaging advertising campaigns.

I would also highlight that the high levels of empathy associated with dyslexia can give an additional edge to creative storytelling, as well as helping with strong collaboration. On the promotional side, the capacity to understand what a target customer might want is incredibly useful for crafting stories that speak to them at a deeper level and effectively hook their attention.

Within teams, elevated emotional sensitivity also helps with building robust interpersonal relationships that can boost creativity and growth by fueling greater idea sharing and better teamwork. Through this, as well as a focus on open communication, I feel my dyslexia has helped me build an environment of trust and mutual inspiration in my team, something I’m very proud of. After all, you can’t fake good company culture.

Making a better workplace better

It’s heartening that there is a rising focus on educating employers about the value of welcoming, rather than dismissing, neurodiverse candidates. Studies led by the likes of EY highlight the scope for professionals with dyslexia to provide skills that are becoming ever-more vital to modern business – including cognitive, technical, and system abilities.

Achieving a harmonious, creative, and productive workplace is no mean feat. But by approaching it openly and honestly, businesses can better unlock the potential of every team member. Neurodiversity can, and should be, an asset to every team. Company leaders must continue to discuss how they can better accommodate varied working approaches, with their hiring and people management teams, alongside advocacy bodies. The more we raise awareness of neurodivergence, the more inclusive organisations – and society as a whole – can become, allowing individuals to thrive.

To those young entrepreneurs or aspiring leaders who have dyslexia or other neurodiverse traits, my advice is simple: embrace your exceptionality . In terms of dyslexia, consider your tendency to take an alternative angle and “think outside of the box” as a gift that sets you apart and use it to fulfil your ambitions and thrive.

Only once society catches up and is able to see dyslexia as a benefit will we all reap the rewards on offer. It’s time to flip the script and view neurodiversity as a personal and business superpower, rather than a challenge. I certainly see it that way.