If so - if you ARE this kind of person.. I have always said it...

You may well be one of the best, most NATURAL entrepreneurs and 'inventors'...

People who are difficult to get on with, who dont operate too well on the social side of things (who tend to open their gob and say what they think...as opposed to realising that they need to tailor it to social niceties. Or who don't know the art of subtlety...)

Well. Those sort of characters tend to annoy teachers greatly. They get bored easily in lessons (their heads are elsewhere - in great schemes n dreams n things..). They drive their parents and other loved ones to distraction (arguing back,...have to be in the right....get mad as hell about perceived injustice...) They come across as the worst kind of smarty pants. Such 'know it alls'!  (and oh - try and get them to admit that they might be WRONG about something? You might just be waiting until Hell Freezes Over.)

Such type of personalities often struggle in mainstream classrooms. They dont seem to learn in the same way as others. They don't respond to the kind of teaching methods, or discipline, that the vast majority of the population seems to learn from, or to thrive under.  Many even have learning disabilities (dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, or they feature somewhere along the autistic spectrum). And having such a learning disability can make you feel even more angry, isolated, weird or 'thick'.

But you know what? People like this - they make damned good entrepreneurs. Or inventors. They are more often than not - the most visionary and inspiring people that you can meet.

I can list you many MANY names here. Starting with Einstein (did you know that he didnt talk until he was 8? That he couldnt read or write until he was 10? So. Was HE 'thick? '  Hmm. Perhaps not.  So if we can accept that Einstein was a little bit off-beat but rather impressive...why can't we accept this for so many others amongst us?) And there are so many more names out there... right up until a certain Richard Branson who also ticks some of the above boxes.

Setting up  the Lorna Young Foundations' NOT JUST A COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE very much came from this premise...that so many SCARILY SMART people out there are from disadvantaged backgrounds and 'think differently' from the way that mainstream education expects them to think. Or to behave. They are round pegs that sadly, far too many people are trying to hammer into little square holes. 

How much damage are we doing to children, to young people and to ourselves by not recognising that some of the sparkiest* people - are NOT the sorts who respond easily to the usual academic stuff that we are all expected to learn.

So if you ARE one of the above. Feel good about it. Be glad that you have such a mind.  BUT - take note. This is NOT a ticket to be an inconsiderate or rude swine (hey - maybe someone needs to tell Alan Sugar and the Apprentices to get a grip on this side of things!)  You may be different to others and you may operate on pretty damned clever level - but you are NOT better than anyone else and the best way to become successful and to change the world is to get others on board, to your way of thinking. Rather than by getting their backs up.

And this brings me onto the point of this blog.  Have a look at this wee report. Produced by Virgin.  Something that I have been saying for a long while now. Sometimes the most disruptive and annoying people in society are the ones who we need to work harder with - to try and fathom out HOW their brains best learn AND best 'give back' to society...

So do try and have a nosey at this....find out about WHO you are and WHERE you came from.  You could be THE person who changes the world in terms of ETHICAL enterprise....

http://www.virginmediapioneers.com/disruptive-influence-the-entrepr...

* NB this is nothing to do with being an entrepreneur  - but the term 'sparkiest' - I have stolen from 'Danny The Champion of the World' by Roald Dahl. If you have never read this book - then do make the effort. Dahl says that every child deserves a parent like the dad in this book. If you never had a great upbringing yourself - do have a read of the book and promise yourself that one day you may well be THIS kind of parent yourself.  We need SPARKY people in this world....