Richard Branson: Like a Virgin

Q: The key to success in three words, please?

A:People. People. People.

Q: Anything you still want?

A:I’d like some grandchildren, as would my wife. Fingers crossed!

Q: What motivates you to carry on?

A:Everything! I love what I do, I love people, love making a difference. I don’t think I’ll stop until I drop. Why would I? I’m having too much fun.

Q: What drives you crazy?

A:Negativity. People who only look for the worst in others and ‘glass half-empty’ types. I can’t stand gossips!

Q: Are you stressed?

A:Not really. I try hard to overcome challenges and, if I fail, I pick myself up quickly.

Q: What keeps you awake at night?

A:It used to be partying but that’s a rarity these days. Now, very little keeps me awake at night. I usually sleep like a baby.

Q: What is your biggest fear?

A:Like a lot of people, I fear illness in our family or friends. Things I cannot control.

Q: Are you ticklish?

A:I’m the most ticklish person I know. Although just why it is that you can’t tickle yourself remains one of life’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

Q: What brings you happiness?

A:Achieving things that one can be proud of, especially when people said it couldn’t be done.

Q: Which one of the seven dwarves would you be?

A:Is there one called Horny? No? Okay then I suppose I’d opt for Happy!

Q: Has there been an event that changed your life?

A:Surviving the hot-air balloon and speedboat crashes, which meant I was around to meet Nelson Mandela. He’s an utterly incredible man; I’m truly privileged to know him.

Q: Ever thought about running for political office?

A:No. I don’t think you can mix business and politics. I’d have to give up Virgin and I enjoy it too much. I can campaign for (and against) a lot of political issues without actually becoming a politician.

Q: What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?

A:Well, the one I’m prepared to talk about was probably one time when Ruby Wax and I were in Mallorca. A young couple came up to us and asked something about taking a photo. So Ruby and I put our arms round each other, smiled, and the couple looked confused and said, ‘No, we want you to take a picture of us.’

Q: Who would play you in a movie of your life?

A:I used to answer that question with ‘me’ but was never sure I’d be handsome enough for the role. Just kidding! Probably Robert Pattinson from Twilight. He’s British and he’s young!

Q: If you were not you, who would you want to be and why?

A:I’d love to start again, and be my (still to get here) grandchild when he or she is born.

Q: Anybody of whom you are still in awe?

A:That has to be the Archbishop Tutu.

Q: What is your favourite sport?

A:I love skiing, and I play a lot of tennis, but right now I’d have to say kite surfing. It’s unusual, I know, but we’ve got the best conditions for it on Necker.

Q: Did running the London Marathon hurt you as much as it did me?

A:I don’t know how much it hurt you, but yes! The last few miles were pretty tough going, but the crowd was amazing and their enthusiasm carried everybody along. I highly recommend it.

Q: Three words to describe the Virgin brand?

A:Innovative, fun and quality-service-at-a-great-price. I cheated a bit on that last word!

Q: Anything left for you to achieve?

A:One of the most exciting things we’re involved in is the Elders. Trying to ensure that world conflicts are resolved more effectively or even become a thing of the past. I believe we are going to see the Elders achieve some fantastic things.

Q: Is there anything you’d have done differently?

A:With the gift of hindsight of course there are a lot of things I should have done differently, but in its absence the answer is no. I’ve had an absolute blast and hope to keep doing so for a long time to come.

There are two questions I get asked all the time. The most popular is ‘How did you come to name the business Virgin?’ A close second is ‘What’s your secret to successfully building businesses?’

The first is easy to answer but the second one always takes some thinking about. The fact is that there’s no one thing that characterises Virgin’s many successful ventures or, for that matter, what went wrong when we didn’t get it right. Reflecting across forty years, however, I have come up with five secrets for improving the chances of a new business surviving and with luck – something we all need – flourishing.

Starting a business takes huge amounts of hard work and time so you had better enjoy doing it. When I started Virgin from a basement in west London, there was no great plan or strategy. I didn’t set out to build a business empire. I simply wanted to create something people would enjoy using, have fun doing it and at the end of the day prayed that it would make enough to pay the bills.

For me, building a business is all about doing something to be proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something that’s going to make a real difference to other people’s lives.

Business people are not unlike artists. What you have when you start a company is a blank canvas; you have to fill it. Just as a good artist has to get every single detail right on that canvas, a businessman or woman has to get every single little thing right when first setting up in business in order to succeed. However, unlike a work of art, the business is never finished. It constantly evolves and it’s also not that easy to paint over your mistakes!

If a businessperson sets out to make a real difference and achieves that objective, he or she will be able to pay the bills and have a successful business to boot.

Whether you have a product, a service or a brand, it is not easy to start a company and to survive and thrive in the modern world. In fact, you’ve got to do something radically different to make your mark today.

Look at the most successful businesses of the past twenty years. Microsoft, Google, Apple and Facebook all shook up the world we live in by doing things that had never been done before and then by continually innovating. They are now among the dominant forces.

Not everyone can aspire to such levels; however, should you decide to enter an already crowded segment you had better be ready to offer customer service that blows the competition away.

When we started Virgin Atlantic the positive buzz that we created focused on the simple fact that our crews were really nice to our passengers. Go figure – what a breakthrough idea for an airline!

Businesses are nothing more than a group of people, and they are by far and away your biggest assets. In fact in probably the majority of businesses your people are your product.