Childrens Corner

He carries about his person an A4 note pad bought from a stationery
store. In it he scribbles his own ideas and notes on conversationsand lists of tasks to do. (Such is the esteem in which he’s held, that other Virgin staff imitate him by scribbling in notebooks.)

This principle applies in his private life just as much as his business
life. Even his taste in food and drink is simple. A cruel remark by one business acquaintance invited to dinner with Branson described the food as “like school dinners.”

Necker Island, part of the British Virgin Islands, now offi cially belongs to the company. It boasts a fi ne kitchen and wine cellar, but these are more for the benefi t of visitors and Virgin executives. Branson himself shows little interest in such matters. He is said to have been scandalized when Virgin executives wanted to spend company money tasting vintage wines in restaurants, and used to have a rule never to spend more than £15 on a bottle.

Branson seems curiously detached from the material details of his life. Joan, his wife, is known to despise affectation.

Despite his huge personal wealth, Branson dresses like someone of much more modest means. Indeed, of his dress sense, it has been observed that he looks as though he picked the clothes he is wearing out of the cupboard at random in the dark. To Branson, none of this is important.

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder

Branson’s constant quest for new businesses means that the Virgin
Group is an intricate and constantly evolving web of start-ups, joint ventures and partnerships. Like an over-fertile garden, such a complex and organic empire could easily become overgrown, but Branson’s promiscuous attitude to commerce is matched by his disdain for hubris. An important part of the Branson business philosophy is keep it simple – a value that he personifi es.

Branson’s life is remarkably uncluttered. His style is low-key and low-tech. He is not fond of computers, and didn’t acquire his fi rst mobile phone until 1993. If there is one adage that epitomizes the Branson approach it is “keep it simple.”

“Branson works as if he’s running a startup” observed Forbes magazine.
“… There are no fl owcharts, no traditional management hierarchies. He doesn’t even know how to turn on a ThinkPad, and associates Lotus not with Notes but with a very fast car … An anachronism in the world of international business magnates,Branson keeps his appointments in a
diary and scribbles ideas on his hand. It works, apparently.”6

“Branson works as if he’s running a startup.”

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder

Much of his time is spent looking at potential new businesses. A human dynamo at the centre of the Virgin empire, he is constantly sparking off new projects, which either take root and grow or simply wither on the vine. (Branson and his business development team have been said to get through about 50 business proposals a week. At any one time they have about four new prospects under review.)4

Once a promising venture has been identifi ed, Virgin is exceptionally
good at getting a business off the ground quickly – often in just a few months. Although Branson himself has the good sense both to surround himself with able people and to let people run with the ball, his own enthusiasm for the adventure invariably gets the better of him. For sheer promotional muscle, too, there is nothing quite like a Branson PR event to launch a new Virgin business.

Branson himself admits his great love and main occupation is setting
up new fi rms. “I immerse myself in them for three months, then back off,” he says. “After that I have to say to them they can only have me once or twice a year. If anything that knack for delegation is the company’s core competence.”5 (Another core competence.)

The exception to the rule is Virgin Atlantic Airways, which commands
the lion’s share of Branson’s attention. Since the sale of Virgin Music Group to Thorn EMI in 1992, it has been the jewel in the Virgin crown.

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder

Branson is a builder not a buyer, something that marks him out as a special kind of business leader. Where other business tycoons have created empires by gobbling up smaller empires, Branson has grown his own.2 “We don’t invest in land or expand by buying other large companies,” he says. “Setting up companies is my skill.”

In recent years, Virgin has also proved highly adept at creating joint ventures and other partnerships. This has enabled Branson to take the Virgin brand into complex marketplaces – providing the distinctive Virgin offering without having to create an organization from scratch. A good example is the 50:50 joint venture with Norwich Union, one of the UK’s leading fi nancial services companies (subsequently replaced by Australian Mutual Provident).3 The partnership enabled Virgin to offer fi nancial products including complex pension plans and investment
packages without having to bring in all the necessary expertise in-house.

Such is the pulling power of the Virgin name that companies are only too pleased to work with Virgin. In recent years, Branson has stated that the ability to create and manage effective joint ventures is one of Virgin’s core competencies.

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder

“Every time a business gets too big, we start a new one. Keeping things small means keeping things - personal.”
– Richard Branson

While much of the corporate world seems obsessed by the size of each others organ(ization)s, Branson prefers to keep it small. 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.

Branson explains: “Every time a business gets too big, we start a new one. Keeping things small means keeping things personal; keeping things personal means keeping the people that really matter.”

If you tried to design a corporate structure to provide the greatest
number of employees in direct contact with their market place, the result would be very similar to the Virgin model. Once again, Branson instinctively does what business school professors have spent years fi guring out.1

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder

Here’s a little mental gymnastics: see how many words you can form using the letters in the word “observation” (you don’t have to use all the letters at the same time). Count 2 points for each word.

Result:

(Possible responses: rate, save, rave, bait, boat, bat, bet, bane, bone, bit, bone, bin, ban, sane, saint, sabre, robe, rose, rote, rite, raven, stare, stone, strobe, stab, soon, soot, boon, train, rain, ran, tan, version, aversion, sober, vat, vine, vane, vain, ratio, rib, rant, rave, etc.)

Taken From: HOW TO USE YOUR MEMORY TO EARN MORE MONEY

Branson gets fi red up by new ideas and converts them into business opportunities with head-spinning speed. The downside for Virgin employees is that their illustrious leader is constantly switching from one hobby horse to the next.

“Richard Branson has the concentration of a gnat,” says one Virgin
employee. Referring to Branson’s belief that he can spot a business winner without market research, members of staff talk about VSO – Virgin’s Sample of One, shorthand for Branson’s latest hare-brained scheme that’s probably doomed to failure.

Inevitably, some of Branson’s schemes have crashed spectacularly.
Vanson, for example, the property business he started in 1983, cost him £12 million through its misguided investments; Event, a magazine he started in 1981, was a non-event.

But Branson takes such setbacks in his stride. To him, they are part of being an entrepreneur. A Branson view of the world is that “he who never made a mistake, never made anything.”

According to an advertising executive who knows him well, Branson has killed off well over 100 companies. His attitude is go out and test something. You only learn by testing. Branson himself puts it more positively: “One should just get on with it and learn from mistakes,” he says. “I love what I do because every single day I’m learning something new.”

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder

The appeal of the Virgin brand name is also such that in recent years Branson has been able to take risks with other people’s money as well as, and sometimes instead of, his own. But, as a story from his childhood illustrates, he has always understood the benefi ts of using other people’s assets to resource his adventures.

The friendship between Branson and his school friend and longtime business partner Nik Powell assumed a recurring pattern. On one occasion, it was decided to “christen” Nik’s new bicycle by taking
it in turns to ride hell for leather down a hill towards a nearby river.
The object of the game was to see who could get the closest to the edge with- out going in. Young Nik skidded to a halt a few feet short of the river. Then came Richard’s turn. With a whoop of delight, he set off down the hill and straight into the river. Nik had to fi sh him out with a piece of wood. The bicycle, however, was never seen again, and Branson’s parents had to fi nd the cost of a replacement.3

“Richard Branson has the concentration of a gnat.”

Branson on taking risks: “One should just get on with it and learn from
mistakes.”

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder

Something Branson is especially good at is persuading others to get involved in his projects. Whether it’s Virgin employees or partner organizations, Branson’s enthusiasm is infectious. In recent years, too, the credibility of the Virgin brand means that he has become a magnet for business proposals from other organizations.

Virgin Cola, for example, grew out of the development of a premium
cola formula from a company called Cotts Europe that supplies many of the supermarkets with own brand colas. When Virgin moved into computers it was in partnership with ICL. When it went into the US retailing market it was with Blockbuster. The original backroom expertise for Virgin Direct, Branson’s fi nancial services operation, came from Norwich Union, a leading UK insurance company, and subsequently from Australian Mutual Provincial (AMP).

This partly explains the speed with which Virgin companies have been set up. The huge advantage of a partner that already knows the business is that learning curves are far less steep, and specialist expertise is on tap. Once the product or service has been decided – usually a single offering to begin with – the main focus of the effort goes into getting the message right for consumers, and adding that all important cheeky Virgin twist.

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder

Timing is all important to Branson’s success. He is a master of the decisive moment. This is the all-important moment when an opportunity presents itself. It could be the point at which power shifts from one side to the other in a business deal; or it could be when a rival makes a fatal mistake. It may last months or just seconds, but Branson is brilliant at recognizing it and exploiting it.

In the case of British Airways and the dirty tricks affair, the decisive moment came when BA’s media machine suggested thatBranson’s motives for making allegations against BA were to “create publicity for his airline.” That mistake gave Branson’s lawyers what they needed to fi le a libel writ against BA and its chairman Lord King. Up until that point, Virgin could do little to protect itself except try to draw media attention to what was happening. In reality, however, the allegations were too complex for the public to grasp easily. But once the decisive moment
was reached, the tide turned.

Branson has also used this skill to great effect during negotiations
throughout his business career, seizing on opportunities to renegotiate more favorable terms or press home some new advantage.

Timing is also absolutely critical to many of his PR activities. As in the other areas of his business life, Branson is a brilliant opportunist when it comes to the media. When it became tangled in its own sophistry about being a global airline and decided to drop the British fl ag from its livery, BA offered Branson a news story on a plate. Hardly was the paint dry on the BA aircraft than Branson the patriot was ordering that the union fl ag be included on the Virgin livery, telling journalists that if BA didn’t
want to fl y the fl ag, Virgin would be proud to.

Taken From: Richard Branson 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder