Famous People Who Overcame Dyslexia
William Hewlett
 William
R. Hewlett (May 20, 1913 - January 12, 2001) was the co-founder,
with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). He
was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan but moved to San Francisco
at the age of 3 years.
Dyslexia forced Hewlett
to memorize schoolwork, and this apparently developed his
memory powers to the point that he seemed to memorize everything.
He was "a sponge for information," according to
Karen Lewis, HP’s corporate archivist. "He knows
more about more things than anyone I've ever met," says
John Young, former chief executive of HP.
The company drew researchers, engineers,
and teachers from institutions like MIT and Bell Labs. Employees
often took their work home with them, discussing ideas at
parties and on golf courses.
One story says Hewlett went to the plant
on a weekend to pick up a microscope, only to find the storage
bins locked. He smashed the lock, and left a note ordering
the bins to be left open so employees could take home equipment
to experiment with.
Another story has 12-year-old Steve Jobs
calling Hewlett at home to ask for spare parts. When he stopped
laughing, Hewlett gave him the parts and his first summer
job at HP. Jobs has often acknowledged a debt to Hewlett and
to HP.
He even escorted competitors on tours of
the HP plant. "I'm always in favor of that. We can show
them what we're doing, but we don't have to tell them what's
in my head," he said.
In 1970, when the company experienced difficulty
and needed to cut its payroll by 10 percent, Hewlett declined
to lay off anyone, and instead ordered that all employees,
himself included, would take Fridays off without pay for six
months.
The HP Way has become a commonplace practice
at high-tech companies, including Agilent Technologies (an
HP spin-off), Silicon Graphics Inc., Sun Microsystems, and
Tandem Computers.
Hewlett and Packard together gave more than
$300 million to Stanford. "This was equivalent to the
financial contributions the Stanfords themselves had made,
adjusted for inflation," said Stanford professor James
Gibbons. But he refused to allow Stanford to name any buildings
after him during his lifetime, according to his oldest son,
Walter.
Hewlett and his wife established the William
and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Additional Links:
Bill
Hewlett Remembered - IT World Com Site Network
Former
Executive Bio - William R. Hewlett, Official HP site
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