Richard Branson

The wealthy head of the Virgin Group dropped out of school when he was 16, in large part because of his dyslexia. "My teachers thought I was just lazy," he wrote of the experience. But the condition that hurt him in academics helped him as he was building his business. He would ask that all marketing materials be read aloud to him, and assessed them by simplicity and how easy they were to understand. "Over the years, my different way of thinking helped me to build the Virgin Group and contributed greatly to our success," Branson reflects. "My dyslexia guided the way we communicated with customers."