Adrian Nyman

For the last 12 years, Adrian Nyman led Nike's Global Retail business on and off-line and he also was the VP, CD for Nike's Sportswear division.

Adrian can be described as a man who paints the future that does not exist. He led Nike, a 40 billion dollar company through a global digital transformation, he re-invented retail, re-imagined brands and turned them into 100% sustainable brands. But, was Adrian always that successful and respected?

In this Conversation series, Adrian has the insight and courage to tackle the sensitive and not before openly spoken struggles with dyslexia. And what we can learn from his ongoing process of self awareness

Some of the topics we discussed were:

How you change adversity into becoming a super charged source of creativity.

Adrian talks about some of the projects that he initiated that people could absolutely not see or understand, but that he because he is wired differently, made into an incredible commercial success. He talks about how we can overcome the most difficult challenges and feelings of alienation and transform those in a triumphant being different.

We excel in our Uniqueness. Why people believe or rather are made to believe they have a handicap.

Adrian takes us through his incredible success at Nike, but also how for years, he struggled with dyslexia and thought he failed academically. We will hear his story how he overcame his struggles and became the creative Wunderkind he is. Why talent born with Dyslexia, ADD, Asperger's syndrome and other "birth deficiencies"- when fully embraced - could be just what this world now needs.

The broader sense of what Diversity means, Diversity in Experience, in being differently wired, not just a racial focus.

Here, we talk about diversity, how it affected Adrian in his early years in a negative way because his environment saw him in prejudiced standards of understanding how the world accepts you as normal.

His life's reflection and insight to change the "normal" way of doing things by corporations by hiring outsiders. People that don't fit the safe and right solution definition that our society defines, people that look where others don't look, to throw away the stigma of right and wrong. Hiring talent that thinks differently to open a new dialogue and allows for creativity to fly.

What would you tell creative talent that is dyslexic, or handicapped, or suffers from self-doubt, doesn't feel understood or respected, but knows deep inside that their difference can become the biggest triumph on a personal level and the people and companies they partner with.

Having people in your life that believe in you and see special qualities in you that you yourself have not discovered. To find people that can initiate you to explore and embrace your unique self.

Adrian talks how he has used his dyslexia by reinventing retail that was out of his comfort zone. How he trusted his differently wired brain to allow for insane creativity.

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