5.1 We think big

The first reason why dyslexics make powerful changemakers is we think big. The Dyslexic Thinking skills of Reasoning, Imagining and Visualising.

Dyslexics are driven by a desire to make the world better and fairer. This makes us bold campaigners with big ambitions. We are fierce champions of social mobility and social justice. Our Dyslexic Thinking skill of reasoning allows us to see past the detail and gain a strategic, big-picture view of a problem or situation. It's a fact that's rooted in neuroscience as MRI brain scanning shows.

Research carried out by Doctor Manuel Casanova on dyslexic and non-dyslexic brains found that dyslexic brains have a bias to long distance connections, having a longer distance between the axons and minicolumns in the brain which leads to big-picture processing skills. This allows dyslexics to make connections across complex issues, subjects and data, which others often don't see. When it comes to changemakers, this allows us to connect the dots and gain a big-picture understanding of the problem.

It's this skill that allowed dyslexic climate scientist, Wallace Broecker, to be the first scientist to discover that the Earth's warming was being caused by human emissions of carbon dioxide. It was Wallace Broecker who created the term 'global warming' back in the 1970s. Fellow climate scientist, Richard Alley, from Penn State University said 'Wally was unique... he was voracious in learning what others knew and brilliant in putting their most important results together into a bigger picture. Then, he would test the bigger picture, wherever it led.'

This ability to link insights and see the big picture is what helps us to see a problem or situation differently. Then we use our imagination and visualising skills to think big and imagine how things could be. Once we've understood the problem and thought big to imagine the solution, we move fast to make change happen.

Globally renowned dyslexic changemaker, Jean Oelwang, helped found Virgin Unite along with Richard Branson in 2003, with a mission never to accept the unacceptable and to unite business, governments, NGOs to solve the world's most urgent problems. Let's hear from Jean now on how she and Richard used Dyslexic Thinking skills to think big and drive change at speed.

For me, it's all about creation and it's all about how do we come up with innovative ideas and how do we be audacious and think big, and really focus on never thinking that anything is impossible? And that's really been the mentality that Richard has had since the start of Virgin Unite. And I have learned a ton from him in how you never, ever, ever let anyone stop you from doing something that's going to drive significant impact in the world. And I used to have a philosophy of 'urgent patience' and now I've come to a philosophy of 'radical impatience' because we're running out of time in the world right now.

And one of the things I love about Dyslexic Thinking is that I believe one of the reasons why we're in such a mess in the world is because we've had only linear thinking, and we haven't started to shift and think about how do you approach a problem in a different way. And that's where Dyslexic Thinking is so beautiful, because it approaches problems like no one else is doing right now.

And that's what we need in the world, is a different set of thinking because it's almost as if someone has smacked a big red reset button and now the world knows that our systems need to change, but they're not doing it at the pace that we need to. So Dyslexic Thinkers coming in can help speed up the pace.

And do you ever get intimidated by the size of the things that you're trying to tackle?

I'm humbled by the incredible people that I get to work with, and the amazing things that they've delivered and achieved in their life. But I don't become intimidated by the size because I feel right now in the world, we need big thinking, we need big ideas, we need audacious ideas. So for me getting intimidated would slow me down and instead what we do is we gather people together that can help us get on that journey. And then it's less intimidating when you're not doing it solo but you're actually doing it with others to get to that point. And then it becomes a lot easier and a lot less stressful along the way.

Jean is right. Seeing things differently, thinking big and imagining audacious ideas and solutions is what the world needs. And it's what dyslexic thinkers excel at. And once we have the solution in our sights, we use our passion to tackle the problem at speed. Just like the Mayor of New York City did. Mayor Adams came to power with a promise to get stuff done. He promised to train all teachers to spot and empower Dyslexic Thinking in every classroom in New York using our training. Three months later it was done.

Do you think that your Dyslexic Thinking helps you in your work as Mayor?

Without a doubt. I would not be Mayor if I was not dyslexic. It's fascinating whenever I run into successful people who own their own business, or doing something in some tech, they'll pull me over and say, 'Hey, I'm dyslexic'. There are so many successful people who are there. But think about this for a moment, let’s look at the other side of it. 40% of the inmates at our jail, Rikers Island, are dyslexic and I was on the pathway to join that rank. I felt, why was I going to school? I was tired of being humiliated. I started participating.

We used to have illegal numbers in this city and I was one of the top illegal number runners in the city. I just found that I needed to find another way to survive. Imagine if we were doing what we're doing now with dyslexia screening and phonics for all of our children, we would not be filling our jails. The goal is not to only close buildings that house people who break the law, the goal is to close the pipeline that filled those buildings and dyslexia is one of the pipelines we need to close (applause).

Getting to the crux of the problem by seeing the big picture is a powerful way of understanding the change that needs to happen. And once you have the solution moving at speed to solve it is an unstoppable route to creating change. But as well as seeing the bigger picture there's one other valuable tool that dyslexic changemakers use to help them think big and drive change. And that's the Dyslexic Thinking skill of Visualisation.

One of the world's greatest changemakers of all time used this skill to best effect. The three times World Heavyweight Boxing Champion and humanitarian force for good, Muhammad Ali. Let's hear from his wife, Lonnie Ali, on how Muhammad used his Dyslexic Thinking to imagine the change he wanted to create.

Muhammad, not only was he determined, he could visualise in his mind, in his brain, what he was going to accomplish and probably what he looked like. His ambition was always to become the Light Heavyweight Champion. He even drew out on paper, probably when he should have been paying attention in class, the jacket he was going to wear, he was going to design and wear once he became that champion. And he could see it in his mind.

I think he saw the grandeur, the glory and the accolades and what it would be like to be that person, to be the Light Heavyweight Champion of the world, and then first to win the Olympics and to be an Olympic Champion. But yes, that was that perseverance, that grit, that determination that propelled him and laid the foundation of everything he achieved in life.

Visualising the change you want to create is a Dyslexic Thinking skill shared by many dyslexic changemakers, including the Founder of the remarkable global football academy, Right to Dream. Former Manchester United talent scout, Tom Vernon, started Right to Dream in Ghana to address what he saw as clear problems in the football talent system.

And what started as an under 12s football team in the suburbs of Ghana's capital city has become a global training academy that’s as much about creating social impact as it is about finding the football stars of tomorrow's Premier League and World Cup. Let’s hear from Tom on how his skills of thinking big helped him realise his dream.

I think I always thought really, really big and that, in many ways, was quite ridiculous because this was a under 12 football team in a suburb of Accra. And I just saw so much potential in the kids and in the idea. And I would invite people and we were training on a dust pitch, and I couldn't even afford a full set of kits, and no one else saw it to be remarkable. But I saw it to be this totally remarkable thing with so much potential.

Here are three key takeaways from this section. Dyslexics think big, they're not afraid to try and tackle big systemic problems. They use their big-picture thinking skills to get to the crux of the problem and visualise innovative solutions. They act with urgency, passion, determination to make change happen quickly.