LEADERS Interview with Kate Griggs, Founder, Made By Dyslexia

Editors’ Note

Kate Griggs is the Founder of Made By Dyslexia, the global movement that pioneered Dyslexic Thinking. For more than two decades, she has challenged traditional definitions of intelligence, helping transform how dyslexia is understood – and valued – in homes, schools, and workplaces worldwide. She is the leading expert on Dyslexic Thinking. Griggs has advised organizations including Microsoft, Cisco, Visa, Goldman Sachs, and Randstad, and has shared her ideas on stages from TEDx to Davos and South by Southwest. Her work and ideas have been featured on the BBC and in Forbes and Harvard Business Review. Through her work, Dyslexic Thinking was recognized by LinkedIn as a professional skill. Griggs’ campaigns with Made By Dyslexia have won six Cannes Lions, including the prestigious Titanium Lion, awarded to campaigns which push the world forward. She is the author of two best-selling books, This Is Dyslexia and Xtraordinary People, host of the Lessons in Dyslexic Thinking podcast, and creator of the University of Dyslexic Thinking on The Open University and other learning experiences in schools and workplaces that empower Dyslexic Thinking. She served as Executive Producer of the animated film What Is Dyslexia?. As AI reshapes education and work, Griggs’ work continues to champion the human skills that are becoming increasingly valuable, helping shape a new understanding of intelligence for the AI era.

Organization Brief

Made By Dyslexia (madebydyslexia.org) is a global charity led by successful dyslexics. Made By Dyslexia is the world’s largest community of dyslexic people and their allies. Its mission is to teach the world the brilliance of Dyslexic Thinking, and to empower it in every home, every workplace, and every school. The organization is aligned with the UN Sustainable Goals. Made By Dyslexia’s bold campaigns, game-changing partnerships, and impactful resources are redefining dyslexia, informing, teaching, and inspiring a global movement for change.

Made By Dyslexia’s Return on Dyslexic Thinking
billboard campaign - US

What was your vision for creating Made By Dyslexia?

My vision is a world that understands and values the brilliance of Dyslexic Thinking. Today, that vision is more important than ever because in the Era of Collaborative Intelligence, where humans and AI work together, what’s become most valuable are the uniquely Human Skills that dyslexic thinkers excel at – creativity, innovation, problem-solving, communication and entrepreneurial thinking. At the same time, AI is increasingly brilliant at things dyslexic people have traditionally found most challenging which has removed our barriers and is turbocharging our skills. That’s why Dyslexic Thinking isn’t just relevant to the future; it’s vital. AI can process information at extraordinary speed, but it is human thinking, Dyslexic Thinking, that provides imagination, innovation, judgement, and the ability to solve problems that haven’t yet been defined.

As Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education at OECD, says in our education guide, “Dyslexic Thinking will be the thinking for the 21st Century.”

How critical is it to address the stigma around dyslexia?

It’s critical. Dyslexic Thinking is worth $4.5 trillion to the global economy, yet $3.2 trillion remains untapped because only 30 percent of dyslexic thinkers are being empowered at work. Those are the findings of our 2025 report with Randstad, the world’s largest talent company.

The biggest barrier is still stigma. Too many people grow up believing dyslexia is a weakness rather than a strength, so they hide it. At the same time, our education systems and workplaces have been designed to measure and reward the things dyslexic thinkers find hardest, rather than recognizing and developing the skills they naturally excel at.

One in five people are dyslexic. That’s an extraordinary talent pool of creative problem-solvers, innovators and entrepreneurs. If we can remove the stigma and empower Dyslexic Thinking, we’ll not only change millions of lives, but we’ll also unlock enormous human and economic potential.

Change is happening everywhere. Some of the world’s greatest organizations that we work with, from Cisco, HSBC, to the British Intelligence agency GCHQ, are now actively hiring dyslexic thinkers, recognizing the huge role Dyslexic Thinking plays.

Made By Dyslexia Entrepreneurs billboard
campaign - Old Street Roundabout

How do you define Made By Dyslexia’s mission?

Our mission is to teach the world the brilliance of Dyslexic Thinking and empower it in every home, school, and workplace. We do that in three ways – through bold behavioral change campaigns, smart strategic partnerships, and developing empowering free resources. This has enabled us to build the world’s largest movement of dyslexic thinkers and their allies, and movements drive change. With the support of amazing creative agencies, we create award winning awareness and behavior change campaigns (we’ve won six Cannes Lions) that are truly driving global opinion change at scale.

We’ve created powerful strategic partnerships that really move the conversation and drive action. Working with EY on our first report back in 2018 aligned Dyslexic Thinking Skills with the World Economic Forum skills for the future. Then our partnership with LinkedIn saw them add Dyslexic Thinking as an official skill, and we collaborated on a free-access course on LinkedIn Learning. And our work with Randstad produces reports, insights, and guides to help employers recruit and empower Dyslexic Thinking.

We work with world-leading dyslexia schools to create free teacher training on Microsoft Learn. And working with the Open University we’ve created the University of Dyslexic Thinking – offering short courses that teach Dyslexic Thinking. Everything we do is designed to have maximum reach and impact, but give free access to all.

Kate Griggs at the “What Is Dyslexia?” film premiere

I worked in media and communications before starting Made By Dyslexia, so storytelling and simplifying have always come naturally to me. And my family have always been entrepreneurs. Those are the skills that help ideas cut through the noise, inspire people and create change.

Richard Branson, fellow dyslexic thinker, once described me as a social entrepreneur. We both believe entrepreneurship isn’t just about building businesses; it’s about seeing opportunities where others see obstacles and having the courage to create something that makes a difference. Social entrepreneurs do exactly that, and that’s the journey I’ve been fortunate to take with Made By Dyslexia.

Our report with Virgin Startup found that one in three founders are dyslexic. Virgin, Apple, Soho House, Shazam and Ikea, are just a few companies created by dyslexic thinkers. The same entrepreneurial skills create successful brands – whether for-profit or nonprofit organizations – especially disruptive ones.

Looking back, I’ve relied on five core leadership and entrepreneurial skills: vision – seeing opportunities and imagining what doesn’t yet exist; creative problem-solving – finding original solutions to complex challenges; communication – inspiring others, telling a compelling story and bringing people with you; collaboration and team building – bringing together people with different strengths around a shared purpose; and leadership – empowering others and turning vision into meaningful impact. These are my Dyslexic Thinking skills, and I’ve come to realize they have been the foundation of everything I’ve built.

This is an exciting time for our movement. We’ve recently launched as a 501(c)(3) in the US and will be taking our work across the country through a series of roadshows to help organizations recognize and unlock the value of Dyslexic Thinking.

Made By Dyslexia has a small core team, but our global impact is made possible by an extraordinary community of partners and people who share our vision. We work with world-leading organizations, creative agencies, educators, philanthropists and dyslexic thinkers who contribute their time, talent, and resources to help us create systemic change. Whether it’s helping to shape policy, empowering Dyslexic Thinking in the workplace, supporting our educational programs, partnering on global awareness campaigns, or telling your dyslexia story to inspire others, there are many ways to get involved. We believe lasting change happens when passionate people and organizations come together around a shared purpose and story.

With the impact that Made By Dyslexia has achieved, are you able to take moments to reflect on the organization’s accomplishments?

One of the biggest moments was undoubtedly seeing Dyslexic Thinking added as a skill on LinkedIn. That was a life-changing moment for every dyslexic; finally our thinking acknowledged as a valuable skill on the world’s largest career platform. But I’m incredibly proud of our new kids’ animation “What Is Dyslexia?” starring Jeremy Irons and Liv Tyler. The animation tells an inspiring story that will help every child to understand the brilliance of Dyslexic Thinking.

This Dyslexia Awareness Month in October, we have a campaign to reach 100 Million Screens with viewings across all 50 states and seven continents. You can expect to see it popping up in extraordinary places – on airplanes with Virgin Atlantic and the iconic Piccadilly Lights in London.

But the moments that stay with me most aren’t the accolades; they are the messages I receive from our community – the dyslexic children, adults, parents and teachers telling us that our work has changed their lives. Hearing that a child is now proud to be dyslexic, or that an adult has finally stopped hiding it at work, reminds us why we do what we do.

My vision has always been a world where every dyslexic, young and old, understands the brilliance of their Dyslexic Thinking. Every campaign, every partnership, every conversation and article like this, brings us one step closer to making that vision a reality.