Childrens Corner

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. Even though he could have afforded the red carpet treatment on Concorde whenever he liked, he sensed that people were fed up with the attitude of the big airlines. He was right – just as well, really, since Virgin Atlantic nearly bankrupted him. Somehow, despite the fact that his own £millions are controlled by tax-effi cient offshore trusts, he correctly surmised that people with a little bit of money saved were tired of the sales patter and high charges from UK fi nancial services companies. Somehow he knew they were ready to trust Virgin with their hard-earned cash.

Cynics will answer that he has advisers to tell him these things. But why should those advisers know any more about what annoys consumers than the people who advise the executives in any other company? In the end, even allowing for good advice, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Branson has his own barometer of public opinion that informs his decisions.

Naturally enough, he says that he talks to people and listens to their opinions and ideas. He would say that, of course. But you don’t have to be a genius to see that if you spend as much time as he does with customers, some of it has to rub off on you. Those who like to knock Richard Branson, or question his sincerity,might consider this: even if it were all a big sham, designed to make him look good, it would still mean he spent more time talking to customers than just about any other company chairman. That in itself, makes him the people’s champion.

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

A student who spent some time working at a company providing hot air balloon trips in the Swiss Alps remembers meeting Richard Branson. Branson was there with the aviator Per Lindstrand preparing for one of their attempts at circumnavigating the globe in a balloon. It was early in the morning and the temperature was many degrees below freezing. The student, who was preparing the balloon for a fl ight was frozen to the bone. As the two pilots approached he recognized Branson from his
pictures on television and in newspapers.

Without thinking he slipped off his glove to shake the Virgin chairman’s hand, immediately regretting it because of the gnawing cold. Branson, seeing what the young man had done, removed his own glove before shaking hands. He didn’t have to. As the chairman of a large and powerful business empire, the young man meant nothing to him, and he would probably never see him again. Until that moment, however, the student was no fan of Richard Branson. In his eyes, he was just another fat cat, who preferred a jumper to a suit. But what he remembers about
him is that he greeted him as an equal.

There were no cameras there to record the moment. That in itself is revealing in a way that interviews with journalists can never be. The story says a lot about Branson. It suggests that he is basically quite a nice man; that he isn’t pompous or puffed up on his own self importance. It also indicates something about his style. Branson knows that the little things matter. It is a feature of all the Virgin products and ervices.

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

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. You will even hear people in Britain say that he’s the original “barrow boy come good,” even though his origins are many miles from London’s East End. Despite his public schoolboy background, his posh accent, his expensive houses around the world, and his immense wealth and power, for some odd reason ordinary people accept him as one of their own. (Princess Diana had a similar knack of making people feel she was one of us instead of one of them.) The thing is, the man
is likeable.

People who know the Bransons well say that his wife Joan keeps his feet fi rmly on the ground. It is his lack of front that has enabled Branson to court a popular appeal that transcends class barriers as well as national barriers.

“He doesn’t do it deliberately,” says Mick Brown, Branson’s of- fi cial biographer, “but it’s a fact that his persona conceals his origins. People see him as egalitarian, déclassé, meritocratic; that, combined with his business success and his buccaneering image, makes him very attractive. And there’s this approachability about him, not like a pop star or other businessmen.”

A survey3 in May 1993, shortly after the settlement with BA, showed that Branson was the role model the majority of young people in Britain would most like to emulate. The psychologist who analyzed the fi ndings noted: “There’s an F Factor to Branson: he’s got fame, fortune and fun.” The combination makes people feel good. A decade later and he has been elevated beyond the status of a national hero, almost to that of global icon. In October 2006 he came third (after Hollywood actor George Clooney and rap artist Jay-Z) in a poll of over one million men, in
which the AskMen.com website asked its male readers to name the man they most admired.

People also see themselves in him. His achievements are somehow their achievements, and they love him for it. We see him doing the things we would like to do. As one interviewer observed: “This is how we think of Richard Branson: in special moments. Richard spraying champagne, like a student coming out of fi nals; Richard offering to run the lottery without profi t, like Robin Hood; Richard defeating the great might of British
Airways with all its dirty tricks, a David against a bully Goliath; Richard in goggles, a modern-day Biggles; Richard cutting a ribbon; hugging a model; hugging a Princess; hugging Scary Spice. Richard dressing up as a woman; as a bunny rabbit, as a clown.”4

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

When he fi rst set up Virgin Atlantic, Branson’s policy of personally phoning 50 customers a month to ask them about the service won him adulation. Not only was he offering better service and lower fares, he managed to include the personal touch. As one observer noted: “This was in stark contrast to the monopolist monolith British Airways – which at that time was defi nitely not the world’s favourite airline.”2

Even if you want to be cynical about it and say he’s only doing it
for effect, it is very hard not to be impressed when the chairmanof a major company takes the trouble to ask your views on his airline.

So, there you have it: 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. Sadly, that is enough to put him head and shoulders above most of the competition.

Mick Brown on Branson’s persona: “He doesn’t do it deliberately, but it’s a fact that his persona conceals his origins.”

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

Whenever he fl ies on his airline, which is about once a week, Branson takes time out to talk to the other passengers. He has been known to ham it up, donning a stewardess uniform andlipstick to serve drinks to the passengers and crew. But on many other occasions he simply makes the effort to chat with his customers and ask them what they think of his company. It is deceptively powerful.

Imagine that you are a passenger fl ying economy class with your family on a transatlantic fl ight with a leading airline. Some time into the fl ight, a man you immediately recognize as the airline’s chairman introduces himself and politely asks if he can join you. He then proceeds to perform a few conjuring tricks to amuse the kids before producing a note pad and pencil. “What do you think of the airline?” He asks, noting any suggestions you might have. “Is there anything I can do to improve the service?”

Few airline managers – let alone chairmen and owners – take the time to talk to their customers like this. Yet we all know that they must travel on their own fl ights frequently, just as Branson does. The difference is that he uses the opportunity to listen to his customers while they are far too important to talk to mere economy passengers (the fl ight crew of one famous airline unof- fi cially refers to the economy class as the pig pen).

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

“There’s this approachability about him, not like a pop star or other businessmen.”
– Mick Brown, Branson’s biographer

Richard Branson’s ultimate gift is the common touch. He makes us feel as if he is one of us. 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 skill 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 key to his enduring success – and popularity.

Those who know him well say that Branson always sees things from the consumer’s point of view. That’s easy enough to do when you’re fi rst starting out. But to be still doing it 35 years on when you’re a multi-millionaire and chairman of a group of companies worth £billions is deeply impressive. And make no mistake about it, Branson is very much in touch. How does he do it?

“I’m lucky,” he says (luck is a word he uses a lot). “I can talk to people. When I fi rst came to London as a teenager, it was such a lonely place to be. Now people come up to me in the streets or on the underground. I am lucky to know everybody.”1

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

You see them, talk to them, call them on the phone - all the people you associate with in the course of your professional and social life. The better you get to know them, the more they’ll respect you, and that’s one of the keys to making your dreams come true.
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The Not Invented Here syndrome is the scourge of many business organizations, but the Virgin culture is open to new ideas from any quarter. Richard Branson has made it company policy to listen. He has also made it public knowledge that the company will take a look at business proposals from would-be partners. In reality, Virgin ends up rejecting about 95 percent out of hand, preferring to explore the ones that have serious backing.

Within the Virgin organization, Branson heads up a small team (including himself, and an experienced venture capital expert) that meets to discuss these proposals.

He has always encouraged Virgin employees to make suggestions for improving the business – and estimates that he receives between 30 and 40 letters a day from Virgin staff. He tries to reply to their letters fi rst. But the whole structure of the com-pany is designed to encourage entrepreneurial behavior, and to engender a sense of belonging.

As Branson’s biographer Mick Brown observes: “Out of the apparent random chaos of the Virgin organization, a business philosophy – almost an entrepreneurial blueprint – could be discerned. By situating each company on its own – albeit small and determinedly unglamorous premises – overheads were kept to a minimum, but, more important, a familial atmosphere was created among staff.”

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

Long before they fell out of favor with management gurus, Branson
spurned the very idea of a large corporate headquarters. For many years, he ran the Virgin empire from a houseboat on the River Thames: board meetings were held around Branson’s kitchen table, or in a nearby pub. When the houseboat sank, taking most of his belongings with it, he had to make alternative arrangements.

But even then he wasn’t prepared to move into conventional of- fi ce space. The Virgin HQ moved upmarket with the purchase of fi rst one, and eventually a whole string of houses, in London’s trendy Holland Park. Different Virgin businesses were located in the different houses, providing each with a sense of identity, and enabling the different management teams to run their own show. For a while, Branson ran the business from an offi ce in one of the houses which doubled as his home. He now has an offi ce at a separate Holland Park address down the road from his house.

A visiting reporter described the Virgin hub: “The house is certainly grand
(creamy walls, white molded ceilings, and all the vast stucco proportions
the rich in west London acquire) but it is nothing like a modern corporate
headquarters.”8

Even today, the idea of housing the company in a tower block would be
anathema to the Branson philosophy. The various Virgin businesses
still operate from buildings scattered around Holland Park.9

“Out of the apparent random chaos of the Virgin organization, a business
philosophy – almost an entrepreneurial blueprint – could be discerned.”

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

Much the same principle applies to the way he organizes his business empire. To avoid bureaucracy, the whole of Virgin is divided into manageable chunks. To maximize the entrepreneurial energy, and to counterbalance the risk of losses in one part of the empire infecting the other parts, each Virgin venture is intended to be a stand-alone business (even though in practice, cash generated by one business is often used to fi nance another). This is refl ected in the structure of the Group.

Branson rejects Western corporate orthodoxy, preferring a loose grouping of companies more akin to the Japanese keiretsu model or family of companies: the Virgin Group is a collection of semi-independent, loosely connected empires.7

“The Group,” he says, “is defi ned by its constituent parts.” Each one of which is housed in a different building and encouraged to have the characteristics of a small business in its own right.

Virgin has an exceptionally decentralized structure. The Virgin brand
is controlled by licensing agreements with each business. (Branson’s interests are protected by ensuring that he almost invariably has an ownership stake of 50 percent or greater.) The businesses are run as independent companies by their own boards of directors.

The Virgin Group consists of a number of divisions or “clusters” of relatedconcerns. For example, a travel cluster contains two airlines, an
aviation services business and a travel company. An entertainments
cluster includes cinemas, music “Megastores,” a record label and fi lm interests. The fi nancial services cluster sells pensions and investment plans.

“Where we see an opportunity or gap, we start a new division. Every time a business gets too big, we start another one,” Branson says. This in turn fosters a cozy, informal atmosphere. A general rule of thumb here is that once a business gets too big to know everyone by their fi rst name, then it is time to break it up. “Usually there are no more than 60 people in any one building,” Branson says.

Branson on the atomized Virgin empire: “Where we see an opportunity or
gap, we start a new division. Every time a business gets too big, we start another one.”