Richard Branson: Like a Virgin

Business schools are wonderful places and yet, in hindsight, I am thankful I never went to one-assuming that is that any of them would have had me!

The simple fact is that formal education and I were never really meant for each other. I suffered from an acute combination of dyslexia and what I suppose would nowadays be diagnosed as attention deficit disorder. When I went to Stowe School in the sixties however, I was simply regarded as an inattentive and troublesome student. As a result I think everyone from the headmaster down was probably rather relieved when I decided to drop out and pursue my dream (at that time) of publishing my own magazine.

Had I pursued my education long enough to learn all the conventional dos and don’ts of starting a business I often wonder how different my life and career might have been.

Although the word was allegedly first coined in the nineteenth century, I certainly had no idea when I started my magazine and subsequent mail-order record businesses that I was also displaying some quite marked symptoms of something called ‘entrepreneurship’.

While the word would have meant nothing to me then, it has since become pretty much the core of everything I have done for the last forty-plus years. The Virgin group of companies has grown in some weird and wonderful ways that even I don’t always quite understand. Sometimes I wonder if the fact I was never indoctrinated into the ‘correct’ way of doing something is why, come what may, I seldom have trouble sleeping at night.

I talk a lot in the articles I hope you are about to read about the important role I believe entrepreneurs have to play in this world. The creative juices that lead to entrepreneurs starting and reviving businesses not only create employment but also help tackle some of the many challenges facing our communities, society and the planet.

Entrepreneurs are innately curious people. This must be why I receive loads of mail from people all around the world asking all manner of questions on doing business ‘Like a Virgin’. The following pages are a blend of responses to questions I have received, as well as an assortment of my written ramblings that have appeared in various publications around the world.

The people who contact me tend to be looking for advice on everything from starting a new business to closing an old one, from hiring people to firing them and – the fun part – everything else in between. Given my well-known focus on business always being enjoyable and fun, the boundary between my work and my personal life does sometimes tend to blur a little: so too do the questions I receive!

As I have never worked for anyone, this book is written through the eyes of a founder. However, the advice is pertinent for anyone faced with the challenges of working in a business or company.

Just recently in London a British interviewer asked me a great many short questions about both my work and my personal life; so by way of introduction to what’s to follow, these were some of the more interesting exchanges:

Q: What’s the first thing you think of when you wake up?

A:Like most people, I think about the time! Often followed by ‘What country am I in?’

Q: Which single word gets you out of bed in the morning?

A:It’s three actually, ‘Richard. Stop that!’ in my wife’s Glaswegian accent.

Q: Which is your favourite band?

A:Okay, I’m biased but it has to be the Sex Pistols and Mike Oldfield, who were both the genesis of Virgin Records – oh yes and Genesis, too.

Q: Which was the first record you bought?

A:I’m embarrassed to say, I think it was Cliff Richard’s ‘Summer Holiday’.

Q: Best country you have visited?

A:Tough call, but probably Australia. I just love the Aussies’ zest for life – a wonderful, vibrant country.

Q: Favourite country?

A:Much as I adore living in the British Virgin Islands it has to be the UK. It’s been very kind to me over the years.

Q: Three most adventurous things you have done so far?

A:Trans-Atlantic speedboating, hot-air ballooning and kite surfing. Space adventure is still to come although, ironically, it may be the least dangerous thing on this list.

Q: If you could meet a legend, dead or alive, who would it be?

A:I assume you’d bring them back to life for the meeting? If so either Christopher Columbus who, among a lot of other places, first sighted the British Virgin Islands, or Sir Francis Drake. I’d love to have been an explorer of that calibre.

Q: Who is your mentor?

A:My mum and dad. They’ve both been a tremendously positive influence on my life.

Q: What is the greatest piece of wisdom you’ve ever heard?

A:To look for only the best in people. And if I can have a second one , ‘ Only a fool never changes his mind.’

Q: Favourite song?

A:Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’. Probably not the coolest answer you’d expect, eh? Especially from someone who once owned the biggest independent record label in the world.

Q: Has anyone ever mistaken you for somebody else?

A:Quite often. Once, a little girl came up to me and said, ‘You look just like that Richard Branson bloke.’ And I nodded and said thank you. She then said, ‘You should go and sign up for one of those lookalike agencies. You might not make as much money as him, but you would still make a fortune!’ I also get Brad Pitt all the time…just kidding!

Q: If you were given $60 to start a business, how would you do it?

A:If I were well known, I’d sign the dollars and sell each of them for $20. I would then sign the $20 and sell them for $50 and so on. As they say, nothing makes money like money!

Q: Is there anything you’d like to change about yourself?

A:It’d have to be my age. I’d like to start going backwards instead of forwards.

Q: What do you love and hate?

A:I love the closeness of our family. And I hate not being able to spend a lot more time with them. Actually, I also hate the word ‘hate’. There’s way too much of it in this world.

Q: What makes you cry?

A:I cry at happy and sad things. My kids always bring a box of Kleenex to the movies! I’ve also seen a lot of sights in places like Africa that would bring tears to anyone’s eyes.

Q: What makes you laugh?

A:I’m lucky. I laugh all the time. I love life, I love people, love a good joke. I really subscribe to the theory that laughter is good for the soul.

Q: What’s contributed most to your success?

A:All the people who’ve worked their tails off at Virgin over the years and have made it what it is today. There’s been some luck mixed in, for sure, but I believe luck doesn’t just happen – you have to work at it.