Dyslexia: a route to riches

Self-made millionaires are four times more likely to suffer from dyslexia than the rest of the population, a study has revealed.

Psychologists found that 40 per cent of the businessmen and women they studied were diagnosed with the learning difficulty.

The report by Tulip Financial Research showed that they performed badly at school and still do poorly in aptitude tests.

Experts believe that dyslexics, who tend not to be good at details, learn to excel by grasping the bigger picture and producing original ideas. They may also be more motivated because of the social exclusion many feel.

Business psychologist Dr Adrian Atkinson, who assisted with the study of 300 millionaires, said: 'Most people who make a million have difficult childhoods or have been frustrated in a major way. Dyslexia is one of the driving forces behind that.'

There are an estimated 5,000 self-made millionaires in Britain, including Jamie Oliver, Ivan Massow, Lord Heseltine and Jodie Kidd - all of whom are dyslexic.

Miss Kidd, 24, who has made her fortune from modelling, was never academically inclined.

'Jodie hated being penned up in the classroom, always preferring outdoor activities and sports,' said her mother Wendy.

'She has always had incredible amounts of energy. Because Jodie is dyslexic, she found her academic work really hard, despite having a high IQ.'

Jamie Oliver has revealed that he records all the recipes for his books on a dictaphone because of the difficulties he has reading and writing.

Lord Heseltine, the former Tory Cabinet minister who made his wealth from his Haymarket publishing empire, first employed his entrepreneurial skills when he was a pupil at Shrewsbury School.

He explained: 'I wasn't any good at games, so when all these very energetic fellows spent the afternoon exhausting themselves on the playing fields,

I used to carry lemonade up the hill and sell it at a significant mark-up.'

Dyslexic Ivan Massow, a former Tory Party adviser and businessman who made his first million at 21, said the findings chimed with his own experiences.

Mr Massow, who came from a broken home and felt himself shunned at school, achieved one O level in metalwork. He went on to make his fortune by selling insurance products.

He said: 'It's the "nothing-to-lose" syndrome - the fact that you are so miserably neglected by the education system.'

Dyslexia affects the skills that are needed for learning to read, write and spell.

According to the British Dyslexia Association, 4 per cent of the population is severely dyslexic and a further 6 per cent have mild to moderate problems.

The latest study was commissioned for a BBC2 series, Mind of a Millionaire, which starts tomorrow at 9pm.

c.gill@dailymail.co.uk

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