Richard Branson: Like a Virgin

Q: You quit school at the age of sixteen, but went on to great success. Do you think a university diploma is necessary to become a successful person? I am a university student and sometimes I wonder whether I would do better without it. What are your thoughts?

I believe I have some great and even innovative ideas for new businesses, but face the difficulty of turning an idea into something real. What advice would you give me to overcome this step?

A: There are lots of things in life we think we ‘can’t get enough of’ and education is top of that list. I am fortunate that, at this stage of my career, I have the opportunity to learn about many new subjects, ranging from the impact of climate change to way-out-there stuff like the possibility of colonising Mars.

I am also lucky in that I meet so many interesting people and have the opportunity to exchange ideas with them – everyone from former leaders such as Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela and Mary Robinson to scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock to Burt Rutan, the engineer leading our Virgin Galactic project.

Indeed, since Virgin’s projects and industries are so varied and our foundation, Virgin Unite, challenges us to try to solve some of our generation’s biggest problems, my companies provide me with an experience I often compare to an extended university course. As a kid I never really enjoyed going to school but I’m loving every minute of this extraordinary journey.

But it was very different when I was young. School wasn’t easy. I was not a good student, partly because of my dyslexia (which was not diagnosed until later) and partly because of my restless nature. I found it hard to concentrate in class and spent much of my time in school dreaming up and setting up new mini-businesses.

The first few ventures I created – including one focused on growing Christmas trees – did not succeed, but those experiences did give me a taste for business and a knowledge of the all-important art of delegation.

By the time I was sixteen I was ready to leave school, but my father was reluctant to approve my decision. One weekend he came to visit my boarding school and tried to persuade me to continue my studies. He hoped I’d become a lawyer like him. I reluctantly agreed; he drove home to explain ‘our’ decision to my mother, Eve.

She was not happy! She told him to make the long drive back immediately, to reassure me that it was okay to leave. He did, and I left school that summer. I never once looked back, first setting up Student magazine and, a few years later, the Virgin record stores. My father often joked that his second return trip was the ‘best drive of his life’.

However, my story is a very personal one; my strategy will not work for everyone. Particularly in today’s tough jobs market, a degree or other diploma can be critical as it shows that you have gained the skills and other building blocks required to start your career.

But obtaining that diploma is only a first step, and in no way guarantees success. You’ll need a great work ethic and determination to make it – both in business and life. You also need your fair share of good luck.

I would advise tackling your studies with a positive attitude – try to enjoy your time at university. Try a few new things while you are there, and maybe even start a business, if this is where your interests lie.

We have set up the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship to help foster budding entrepreneurs and their fledgling companies. Most of our students are young men and women, determined to study hard and build their businesses. One of the most important things we impart to them is the importance of enjoying your work.

When you reach the launch stage, don’t be afraid to make that first leap.

Most entrepreneurs’ first ventures fail – I know, because mine did – but the lessons you learn from failure are invaluable and will help you with your next attempts. You have to be very determined and accept that the early stages of launching any business are mostly about just surviving.

Turning an idea into reality is a key step that all entrepreneurs have to master. Try to see your ideas through your customers’ eyes – it’ll help you determine which ideas have a chance of succeeding. You should also check out the competitive forces that might work against you. When I was a boy, if I had looked at my ill-fated Christmas tree business through the eyes of a hungry rabbit I might have thought twice about sinking my savings into it!

Good luck, Felipe! Please hang in there and complete your education, throw everything into your studies and remember: whether you’re working for a company or setting up your own business, work hard, persevere and smile, and you will be on the road to success.

As with everything else in my life, I am grateful to a lot of people for the inspiration behind, and the creation of, Like a Virgin. To name but a few…

Thanks must go to Nick Fox at Virgin Management for constantly urging me to ‘write it down’ and then sometimes taking dictation from all over the world as I took him up on the advice; and to Gloria Anderson and Patti Sonntag at the New York Times for commissioning and then syndicating some of my scribblings to more than fifty countries.

Then there’s David Tait, who built Virgin Atlantic in the USA from day one and has spent the best part of thirty years correcting my English. David was a great support in helping me order my thoughts and making these outpourings readable.

Not least, my thanks go out to two more important groups. All the readers of the various publications around the world and others who have texted, blogged or emailed (one even came in on a postcard) all nature of thought-provoking comments, opinions and questions, many of which I have attempted to respond to in these pages.

And, secondly, to all the wonderful employees past and present of the Virgin Group who have helped me create our unusual family of companies and have helped me fill this book with great stories and lessons.

I hope it spurs on a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Thank you one and all.

Richard Branson is the founder of Virgin Group. He was born in 1950 and educated at Stowe School, where he set up Student magazine when he was sixteen years old. In 1970 he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer and shortly afterward opened a record shop on London’s Oxford Street. Two years later the company built a recording studio and Virgin Records went on to become one of the top six record companies in the world.

Since then, Virgin Group has expanded to encompass more than four hundred companies in over thirty countries. Branson is the only person in the world to have built eight billion-dollar companies from scratch in eight different sectors. Through the Virgin Group’s charitable arm, Unite, he is working to develop new approaches to social and environmental problems.

Branson’s autobiography, Losing My Virginity , and his books on business, Business Stripped Bare, Screw Business As Usual , and Screw It, Let’s Do It , are all international bestsellers. He lives on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands and is married with two grown-up children.

RB indicates Richard Branson.

A-B-C-D (connecting the dots) 253-6

adapt quickly, ability to 28, 65-6, 81, 105, 160, 199, 249

advertising 26-7, 34, 225-6, 237, 246, 250, 286, 288