HISTORY
Richard Branson
was born on July 18, 1950 in Shamley Green, Surrey, England. He struggled
throughout his school life due to an as of yet undiagnosed problem of dyslexia.
He excelled in sports, serving as the caption of both his school’s football and
cricket teams, but it was in business that he found his true calling.
His two
ventures—growing Christmas trees and raising Australian parrots—were not
successful. But the experience he had gained at that age (16) helped him to
launch Student Magazine followed by Virgin mail order, which did see relatively
more success.
NET WORTH
Branson started with a simple record store, and
built Virgin into an absolute powerhouse, turning him into one of the richest
men in Britain.
Richard Branson’s net worth is estimated at $5
billion as of 2020.
EARLY LEADERSHIP LESSONS
Branson’s
leadership qualities is the most significant reason behind the success of 350
very different companies. Branson believe that his leadership style has its
origins in his upbringing, where his parents taught him to stand on his own two
feet. At age six, his mother would shove him out of the car and tell him to
find his own way home. At age 10, she put her son on a bike to ride 300 miles.
These lessons built character, endurance and leadership qualities.
Branson believes
he learned leadership through trial and error, since founding his first
company, Student magazine, at age 16. Branson says “You cannot be a goof leader
unless you generally like people.
Branson
places enormous value on time management skills. As a chairman of large group
of firms, Branson says he spend about a third of his time on trouble shooting,
another third on new projects, both charitable and business, and the last third
on promoting and talking about the business he has set up. He also spend some
time for family and vacation.
SUCCESS BEHIND MORE THAN 350 COMPANIES
Branson
says “I have had to create company that I believe in 100%. These are companies
I feel will make a genuine difference. Then I have to be willing to find the
time myself to talk about them, promote them and market them. I do not want to
spend my time doing something that I am not proud of.”
HOW BRANSON ENCOURAGE INNOVATION?
The key to
encouraging innovation within Virgin ranks, suggests Branson, is to listen to
any and all ideas and to offer feedback. Employees often leave companies, he
reasons, because they are frustrated by the fact that their ideas fall on deaf
ears.
HOW BRANSON BUILD TRUST?
Branson has
built a level of trust with his top managers by setting the direction and then
stepping back to let them navigate. “ I come up with the original idea, spend
the first three months immersed in the business so I know the ins and outs and
then give Chief Executives a stake in the company and ask them to run it as if it’s
their own,” explain Branson.
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