John Chambers, CEO of CISCO the giant communications company, admitted to a learning disability yet runs a company worth $200 billion.

John Chambers CEO Cisco

John Chambers, the CEO of CISCO,  suffers from dyslexia. Dyslexia does not mean people are slow, they merely jumble up the letters in words.

Children in school with dyslexia often score lower on standardized tests that measure reading comprehension.

Some how Chambers kept his disability hidden from the business world and was able to run one of the most aggressive and leading technology companies.

Late in the 1990s at a “take your child to work” day Chambers fessed up.

When a young girl stumbled with a question he came to her defense by saying he too had a learning disability.

He can deliver flawless speeches without referring to the printed page. It takes practice but it also frees him from reading to his audience.

Since he can’t read sentences, he doesn’t like email or long memos. His speech cheat notes are single words that remind him of the point to be made, which is actually the best way to deliver a speech. No one wants to watch someone read. It’s not authentic. People prefer to hear someone speak from their heart, although ad lib speeches can be dangerous if you say the wrong thing.

He still has trouble with written directions and he prefers voice mail to e-mail. Through Cisco’s products, he is in a position to make his own world and those of other dyslexics somewhat easier.There was another, more subtle clue to Chambers’ motivation.

Cisco is leading the world in the adoption of internet technologies. It’s switches and routers are the most commonly used devices for routing our internet traffic. Last year CISCO purchased the company that makes Flip cameras.

“That I didn’t share my issues with dyslexia earlier. I didn’t realize how that impacts others. Because you consider it a weakness and you don’t share your weaknesses. And you don’t realize that it helps others who have this issue, and also your family.”

“There’s nothing harder on you than when people come around the classroom in first, second and third grade to call on you, and your stomach starts to tighten up and you know you’re going to mess up the reading,” he told IBD.

Chambers says dyslexia is especially frustrating because more effort couldn’t fix the problem.

“My parents would sit and read with me in the evening, and it would get worse, not better,” he said.

Before people knew about learning disabilities, my teachers thought I wasn’t very smart. I read backward and in reverse order. I had to go to extra school, which I hated. My family refused to accept the idea that I couldn’t go to college or wouldn’t go. I considered dyslexia a weakness and never talked about it.

We had Bring Your Kid to Work Day about six years ago. They ask everything from “How much money do you have?” to “Are you doing a good job leading the company?” One little girl tried to ask a question and couldn’t get it out. She started to cry. She said, “I have a learning disability.” I said: “So do I. Take your time.”

I was a little bit embarrassed. That evening, there were a dozen e- mail messages. One said, “You don’t know what it meant for my child.” Parents and children encouraged me to be more candid with my learning disability, how I overcame it and share with young people. Not to use learning disability as an excuse for why we can’t do things in life.

…I’m a voice person. I communicate with emotion that way. I like to listen to emotion too. It’s a lot easier to listen to a key customer if I hear how they’re describing a problem to me.

I’ll leave 40 or 50 voicemails a day. I do them on the way to work and coming back from work. The newest thing for me is video on demand, which is my primary communication vehicle today. We have a small studio downstairs. We probably tape ten to 15 videos a quarter. That way employees, and customers, can watch them when they want.

To be informed, I like summaries. Because of my dyslexia, I do very little novel reading or that type of activity. I love quick articles. Before every meeting and every panel I study briefing binders with all the information I need: what we’re doing in a presentation, who we’re meeting with, backgrounds on them, etc. It’s two or three pages on each topic, and that is how I like to learn. I speak of dreams

With background from By James Bagnall, CanWest News Service October 20, 2007