Childrens Corner

In many ways this is the most diffi cult lesson of all. Those who want to follow in Richard Branson’s footsteps have to master this or all the other lessons will come to nothing. More than just humility, Branson’s ability to mix with people of all walks of life sets him apart from just about every other business executive you will meet. It is the real secret to his enduring success – and popularity.

? Listen to people – customers and employees are a good place to start

? don’t let success go to your head

? use your customers as consultants – they know their requirements better than the McKinseys and Bains of this world

? treat everyone as an equal; one of Branson’s most endearing traits is that he is more likely to be rude to the CEO of a multinational than a check-in clerk

? be what people want you to be – be a chameleon.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

Liberate creativity, and encourage people to do what they do best.
? Be a back-seat leader
? act as a catalyst
? surround yourself with talented people
? encourage chaos
? make good ideas welcome (wherever they come from).

8 Move faster than a speeding bullet
Branson moves quickly when an opportunity presents itself.

? Seize the moment (beware of paralysis by analysis)
? leap before you look (avoid paralysis by analysis)
? streamline decision making
? use joint ventures to leverage expertise
? make plenty of mistakes (it’s the only way to learn).

9 Size does matter
If you’re a Virgin, then size is important to you. The Virgin Group is effective because it maximizes the entrepreneurial spirit of its staff whilst minimizing the bureaucracy of its systems. Virgin is not a traditional hierarchical company. Rather, it is a cluster of loosely associated businesses, with their own offi ces and their own management teams.

If you tried to design a corporate structure to provide the greatest number of employees in direct contact with their marketplace, the result would be very similar to the Virgin model. Once again, Branson instinctively does what business school professors spend years fi guring out. The essence of the Branson approach to corporate structure has fi ve key points:

? grow your own
? keep it simple
? break up your empire into small molecules
? keep headquarters to a minimum
? put out the welcome mat for good ideas.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

Richard Branson has turned himself into a walking, talking logo. Where McDonald’s has Ronald McDonald, a six foot, ginger- haired clown, and Disney has Mickey Mouse; Virgin has its goofy chairman. Every time his picture appears in a newspaper or magazine, it promotes the Virgin brand.

This is entirely deliberate, and probably one of the most effective promotional strategies ever employed by a company. Therisk to the reputation of the brand, of course, is correspondingly high should Branson’s personal image become tarnished. To date, however, it has proved highly successful, enabling him to build the Virgin brand on a shoestring advertising budget.

? Understand what the media want, and give it to them
? think in pictures
? stand up and be counted
? remember, philanthropy and stamp collecting are two different things
? know when to duck.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
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One of the most frequently asked questions about Virgin is how far the brand can stretch. Some commentators believe that, by putting the Virgin name on such a wide range of products and services, Branson risks seriously diluting the brand. His answer to this criticism is that as long as the brand’s integrity is not compromised, then it is infi nitely elastic.

Lessons from Branson, the brand master are:
? a good brand travels
? brand elasticity is infi nite
? love honor and cherish your brand
? rules are for breaking
? be cheeky.

Virgin’s fi ve brand values are:
? value for money
? quality
? fun/cheek
? innovation
? challenge.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

Business, in Richard Branson’s view, should be fun. Creating an exciting work culture is the best way to motivate and retain good people; it also means you don’t have to pay them as much.

Unlike the computer whiz-kids Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Branson has never invented any product of a revolutionary nature. All the industries he has succeeded in are conventional ones with little in common except that they are mature and dominated by large players. So what is it that Richard Branson knows aboutbusiness that other people who have been in these conventional industries for years have failed to grasp?

The answer is simple. Branson has the ability to motivate people and push them to the limit. He possesses a remarkable ability to inspire others to achieve what they didn’t know they were capable of. The Branson technique for managing people provides the following lessons:

? it pays to play
? let employees loose
? encourage informality – stay on fi rst name terms
? praise people rather than criticizing them
? make business an adventure.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

Branson’s affi nity with fl ower power and the whole 1960s movement is less a commitment to a set of principles or political beliefs, and much more related to being in tune with the times – one of his greatest business attributes. Branson’s alternative management style offers the following lessons to aspiring moguls, including:

? don’t be a bread head
? dress down every day (not just Fridays)
? put people fi rst
? blur the divide between work and play
? shake it up (don’t imitate, innovate).

3 Haggle: everything’s negotiable
One of Richard Branson’s less appreciated talents is a razor sharp negotiating technique. Nice guys fi nish last, or so they say, but not Branson. Despite – or perhaps because of – his Mr Nice Guy image, Branson rarely comes out second best in any of the deals he makes. Charisma and considerable personal charm belie a calculating business brain. The lessons from the Branson school of negotiating are:

? nice guys fi nish fi rst
? never say never
? talk softly and carry a big stick
? act on good advice
? cover the upside as well as the downside.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

Business visionary or personality cult? Richard Branson’s Virgin brand is unique. No other company has ever created anything quite like it. Only time will tell whether Branson has invented a new blueprint for capitalism for the 21st Century, or is simply a better sales man. Nirvana or more of the same with a different spin? It all depends on your point of view.

For those who want to follow in his footsteps, here are the secrets
of his success.

1 Pick on someone bigger than you: attack dominant market players
Richard Branson has made a career out of playing David to the other guy’s Goliath. Where some entrepreneurs might take one look at the market dominance of the big players and think better of it, Branson actually delights in taking on and outmaneuvering large corporations.

The Branson strategy is:
? make business a crusade
? hoist a pirate fl ag
? play the underdog
? pick your battles
? hit them where it hurts.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

? Use your customers as consultants – they know their requirements better than the McKinseys and Bains of this world. Branson knows that the little things matter. It is a feature of all the Virgin products and services.

? Treat everyone as an equal; Branson is more likely to be rude to the CEO of a multinational than a check-in clerk. What Branson has that others – businessmen, politicians and TV producers in particular – can only dream of is his fi nger on the pulse of the nation. He seems to speak for a large part of the population.

? Be what people want you to be, and don’t let them down. Perhaps the appeal of Branson is that he is different things to different people. What is undeniable is that he has dazzled the British business scene for more than two decades in a way that no other entrepreneur ever has
before.

NOTES
1 Gerrard, Nicci, “Why do we love Richard Branson?” The Observer, February 8, 1998.
2 Mitchell, Alan, Leadership by Richard Branson, AMROP International, 1995.
3 Sponsored by the TSB.
4 Gerrard, Nicci, “Why do we love Richard Branson,” The Observer, February 8, 1998.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

Richard Branson’s ultimate gift is the common touch. He makes us feel as if he is one of us. More than just humility, Branson’s ability to mix with people of all walks of life sets him apart from just about every other business executive you will meet. It is the real secret to his enduring success – and popularity. Here are the Branson lessons:

? Listen to people – it’s the least practised management skill of them all. The difference between Richard Branson and 99.9 percent of the people who run large businesses is that he treats people decently and listens to what they think.

? Don’t let success go to your head – a sense of humor helps, so does being thrown into swimming pools by your staff on a regular basis. There is about Branson something of the Everyman fi gure. For no readily apparent reason, people seem to identify with him, believing he is like them.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

The Branson phenomenon is probably unique. It is an unusual cocktail of personality cult and business instincts. It is also curiously palatable. Perhaps the appeal of Branson is that he is different things to different people. Whether you prefer to think of him as the hippy idealist on a mission to clean up business, a lovable pirate rogue, a corporate Peter Pan, or even a robber Baron in disguise, depends on your point of view. What is undeniable is that he has dazzled the British business scene for more than three decades in a way that no other entrepreneur ever has
before, or is likely to again.

True, Branson has been fortunate to live in exciting times. From the social revolution of the 1960s, through the boom of the 1980s, the dot com rush of the 1990s, and into the fi rst decade of the 21st Century, he has been there with his Virgin brand to offer an alternative take on whatever the suits were trying to sell us. He has made a large fortune doing it. But in these fat cat days when unknown faceless bureaucrats
are shamelessly awarding each other huge sums of money for corporate
blandness, Branson is good value.

In the end, though, it is impossible to pin down Richard Branson. He is,in the words of Boy George, one of Virgin’s famous discoveries, the ultimate Karma Chameleon.

Taken From: Business The Richard Branson Way
10 Secrets of the Word’s

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