--- title: Richard Branson Credits Dyslexia With His Success description: Early in his life, Branson struggled with dyslexia, a learning disability that affects people’s ability to read and write. authors: - name: Matt Bemer url: https://money.com/author/matt-bemer/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 3 covers: - Career Advice social: - https://x.com/mattbemer former_staff: true published: '2015-10-15T20:41:22.000Z' modified: '2024-05-07T10:16:46.000Z' section: Career Advice tags: - Branson - Business - Careers - Careers & Workplace - celebrities - celebrity - Companies - Dyslexia - Richard Branson - video - Virgin - Workplace word_count: 372 canonical: https://money.com/richard-branson-dyslexia-success/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group and Virgin Unite, participates in a discussion on "Looking to the Next Frontier" at the Clinton Global Initiative on September 28, 2015, in New York.](https://img.money.com/2015/10/151015_em_branson.jpg) *Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group and Virgin Unite, participates in a discussion on "Looking to the Next Frontier" at the Clinton Global Initiative on September 28, 2015, in New York.* Richard Branson has made a name for himself by mixing creative passion with business ideas. His [first commercial success](https://money.com/collection-post/richard-branson-first-million/) came after he founded his dream business: a record label. That company, called Virgin Records, produced the Mike Oldfield album “Tubular Bells,” which was later used in the film *The Exorcist.* The success of "Tubular Bells" kickstarted Virgin Records, which Branson sold in 1992 for nearly $1 billion. Today he’s the founder and chairman of Virgin Group, which has expanded into airlines, telecom companies, financial services companies, health clubs, travel agencies, and wine stores. It has even launched a business to take people into outer space. Branson's estimated worth is at $5 billion–but that fortune that didn’t come easy. Early in his life, Branson struggled with dyslexia, a learning disability that affects people’s ability to read and write. > “I struggled with dyslexia when I was at school, long before it was widely known—my teachers just thought I was just stupid, lazy or both. Words just looked like jumbles of letters on the blackboard to me.” In a [blog post on Virgin’s website](http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/living-life-like-a-dyslexic), Branson attributed the Virgin brand's success to his dyslexia. > “However, there are still many dyslexics out there, especially young people, who feel held back by their condition. I used my dyslexia to my advantage and learned to delegate those tasks I wasn’t so good it. This freed me up to look at the bigger picture, and is one of the main reasons I have been able to expand the Virgin brand into so many different areas.” Ahead of Dyslexia Awareness week (Oct. 18 to 24), Branson used the blog post to encourage a 12-year-old girl named Isley Hermansen to embrace her dyslexia and use it to continue pursuing her creative passions in the same way that he did. “…There are many, many talented dyslexics out there,” Branson wrote. “In fact, some of the most creative people happen to have the condition.” Read Hermansen’s letter to Branson [here](http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/like-a-dyslexic) and watch her video "likeadyslexic" below, which mentions successful people with dyslexia such as Maya Angelou, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, Steve Jobs, and Keira Knightley. ***Read next: Shark Tank’s Daymond John Blew His First $20 Million Before Wising Up About Money*** [Watch video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHCkpLsIs4E) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/richard-branson-dyslexia-success/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Career Advice", "item": "https://money.com/career-advice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Professional Development", "item": "https://money.com/professional-development/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Richard Branson Credits Dyslexia With His Success" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/richard-branson-dyslexia-success/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/richard-branson-dyslexia-success/", "name": "Richard Branson Credits Dyslexia With His Success", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-10-15T20:41:22.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/richard-branson-dyslexia-success/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/richard-branson-dyslexia-success/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-07T10:16:46.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Richard Branson Credits Dyslexia With His Success", "articleSection": "Career Advice", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/10/151015_em_branson.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1400, "caption": "151015_EM_Branson" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Bemer", "url": "https://money.com/author/matt-bemer/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/matt-bemer/#author", "email": "matt.bemer@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/mattbemer" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-10-15T20:41:22.000Z", "description": "Early in his life, Branson struggled with dyslexia, a learning disability that affects people’s ability to read and write.", "abstract": "Early in his life, Branson struggled with dyslexia, a learning disability that affects people’s ability to read and write.", "@id": "https://money.com/richard-branson-dyslexia-success/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-07T10:16:46.000Z", "wordCount": 372, "keywords": [ "Branson", "Business", "Careers", "Careers & Workplace", "celebrities", "celebrity", "Companies", "Dyslexia", "Richard Branson", "video", "Virgin", "Workplace" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Career counseling", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Career_counseling" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Professional development", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_development" ] } ] } ] } ```