Right Brain Learners - Unique Gifts

ADD researchers and experts often refer to the Edison trait or the Da Vinci gene. They’ve actually named a primary genetic characteristic associated with ADD after the DRD4 gene. About 10% of the population has the genetic trait and half of that population will struggle with learning in some way shape of form. The CDC estimates 2-3% of the population is ADD/ADHD but many experts put that number closer to 5%.

Edison, another ADD all-star was kicked out of school after three months. Imagine the gifted purveyor of education who went home one night and exclaimed to their spouse, “That kid was just a pain in the rear. He’ll never amount to anything. I got rid of him before he could hold the rest of the class back.” Perhaps one of the most prolific inventors in history, that “underachiever” went on to amass a body of work that resulted in over 1,000 patents. The likes of which included the light bulb, the telephone, the telegraph, the phonograph and other obviously significant cultural and technical milestones of modern civilization.

Thomas Edison found a different path to learn, and that changed everything. And a quick sidebar on innovation: Edison often worked odd hours and took multiple cat naps during the day. Many of his breakthrough ideas, solutions to problems and visionary concepts came during the moment of clarity when he was first waking from his naps! There’s even a book title: Snoozing Your Way to Breakthrough Innovation.

All this gives rise to another question: Are analytical workers, learners and personalities always the best problem solvers? There is actually data that says no. Although the results of the project were not shared because of potential HR issues associated with the study subjects, a major defense contractor once ran a data collection process to assess whether classically trained engineers and business analysts, or members of the team who were dyslexic were more effective problem solvers. The results clearly indicated that the dyslexic team members, who often viewed problems and processes visually, were significantly more effective at root cause analysis and identifying system constraints.

We're trying to collect success stories of ADD learners who have leveraged their unique perspective to see problems differently? Please feel free to add yours!