One in ten people in Ireland are living with dyslexia, but Caroline Keeling is proof that it need not stop you building a massively successful career in business.
As CEO of Keelings, arguably Ireland’s largest fruit company, Caroline Keeling is at the forefront of Ireland’s drive towards healthy eating.
What many people don’t know, however, is that the woman who has taken the company built by her grandparents on to the global stage was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age.
Speaking to host Tadhg Enright on The Architects of Business, in partnership with EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™, Caroline says that – despite the obvious drawbacks associated with the condition, which affects one in ten Irish people – her dyslexia helps her to see things from a different perspective.
“I think the one thing I learned about dyslexia was, yes, there’s some challenges to it in the way your brain works and in the way your brain sees things,” she says. “But there’s also some great benefits to it, I think everyone has it impact them slightly differently.
“With mine, there’s a level of creativity and seeing things differently that I think is part of dyslexia that has helped me.
Caroline describes helping the young child of a New Zealand farmer, and how – as a result – she managed to cultivate a business relationship with a new customer.
“It certainly helped me land a deal once in New Zealand because there was a guy I met, his son had just been diagnosed (as dyslexic) – he was only about six – and I met them, and his son had his shoes on the wrong feet.
“And the guy was concerned, so I said, “no no no. He just needs to learn the trick. So with dyslexia there are certain things that are a little bit more difficult; so you put the shoes together, they have to make an arch, if they don’t make an arch they’re wrong.
“You can’t tell him just to pick up the left and the right, it just doesn’t work that way. So we went through that.”
Catch the full episode here…
In a wide ranging discussion, Caroline reveals her struggles to be taken seriously in the family business because of her gender, and how she hopes to lead the way for more and more women to take up roles similar to her own at the head of a successful enterprise.
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