![Fostering Creativity: The Early Life of Chuck Close [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Fostering-Creativity-The-Early-Life-of-Chuck-Close-DAs-400x250.jpg)
Recently, I came across a paper, by Landmark College Professor Ken Gobbo, writing about the early life of artist Chuck Close – and this led me to an oral history recorded at the Smithsonian.
![The Expansive Life of IBM’s Thomas Watson, Jr [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/The-Expansive-LIfe-of-Tom-Watson-400x250.jpg)
“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.” — Thomas Watson, Jr. Recently, I had the chance to interview Tom Watson Jr’s grandson, Ralph Watson McElvenny and his co-author Marc Wortman. Tom Watson Jr. was one of those people who seemed to live larger than life. He struggled mightily as a child – and was sort of a black sheep of a talented family for years, but he found his niche – and later expanded that into multiple niches, There’s a lot to be gained from learning more about his life. From the book’s press release: “Nearly fifty years into IBM’s existence, Thomas Watson Jr. undertook the biggest gamble in business […]
Nick Koshnick is a Stanford PhD and seasoned entrepreneur who raised money from companies like Google and Andreessen, and then sold the company.. He's also dyslexic. Now, he's co-founded StoriedWork.com with business partner Frank Corrigan. Storied has been nicknamed...
![Learning Through Real Things: David Kelley’s Tech Box [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Learning-Through-Real-Things-400x250.png)
“Striving for perfection can get in the way during the early stages of the creative process.” — David Kelley David Kelley is recognized as one of the world’s leading design innovators. He is also dyslexic and dysgraphic. In addition to founding Stanford University Design School, David co-founded IDEO, a design company that, among other things, designed the prototype for the computer mouse that we know today. In The Art of Innovation, David’s brother Tom wrote about how David loved to make things as a little kid, and as early as he could remember, he believed in the process of starting somewhere and continually improving something until it really works. When Tom was only six, he remembers David improving how he built snowmen until […]
"Don't get frustrated with yourself. There are things that you're going to struggle with. Lean into the things that you do well, those strengths...and don't dwell on how people treat you. You're smart and probably smarter than a lot of other people. The world...
UC Irvine Professor Roxanne Varzi is a creative anthropologist, filmmaker, and mystery author. She shared her dyslexia journey in a previous interview HERE. In my interview below, I learned that Roxanne was drawn to the field of cultural anthropology by its...
Brilliant comedian Tommy Smothers of Smothers Brothers fame passed away at the age of 86. Condolences to his family and loved ones. “My comedy came out of my dyslexia…I search for words. I don’t stutter but there’s a timing that I discovered that was comedic timing, which is the process of getting to the next sentence or the next idea or the next concept. It’s kind of disjointed and not very articulate but it was a character that could say things.” — Tommy Smothers Tommy and his brother on the Judy Garland show. Tommy’s comedy sketch about being “inarticulate.”
Many dyslexic kids and adults are great at games – all sorts of games. Not surprisingly, some decide to make games themselves and then some choose careers in some aspect of the game industry. There may be an ability to see game play from multiple perspectives including different points of view, while those who win these games are often good at strategy, role play, and pattern recognition. Among game creators, strengths in humor, and divergent and playful thinking are very well-suited to inventing new games. Some years ago, legendary toy inventor Howard Wexler gave our community a webinar about his life inventing toys. As a kid, he played with Tinkertoys and enjoyed taking things apart. His toys and games were very different from each […]
"I think that dyslexia is hard. And I think that it's OK to admit that it's hard...and also admit that sometimes it does really suck...but I think that when you find your niche, and that can only really come from taking random opportunities...it really helps...
![Legendary Filmmaker David Lean [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/academy-award-pexels-400x250.png)
Sir David Lean CBE was an Academy Award-winning filmmaker who inspired fellow dyslexic filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Joe Wright. David was initially recognized as a “dud” at school, prone to excessive daydreaming. Later he would credit his passion for filmmaking with the gift (from an uncle) of a Brownie box camera at the age of 10. David was considered “dim” especially when compared to his younger brother. He left school at 18 for work, but was bored when he tried apprenticing at his father’s accountancy firm. David’s aunt urged him to find a job that he could love. He was spending every evening at the movie house, so taking her advice to heart, he quit trying to work as an account apprentice, and […]
![What I Know Now About Learning a Foreign Language [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/What-I-Know-Now-About-Learning-a-Foreign-Language-Charlann-400x250.png)
When I came across a remarkable article titled, “Dyslexia and Learning a Foreign Language: A Personal Experience,” I knew that I wanted to talk to the author. Charlann had the unique perspective of being both dyslexic and a speech language pathologist. She dodged the college level foreign language requirement by getting a bachelor’s degree in speech and theater and master’s degree in speech language pathology. “I no longer tell the truth about how long I have studied French because people cannot comprehend how I could have studied (for seven years) and…still struggle so severely with spoken and written language. I could not fluently retrieve basic structures or pronunciation patterns to communicate my thoughts in classroom discussions, so I tended to speak in sentence fragments […]
