A New Chapter Begins

I wish I wasn't writing this, but today I celebrate one week of being unemployed. I really didn't see it coming although looking back, there must have been small signs when responses to questions were minimal.

A chapter in my life closes, and in turn, another will open. Tonight I attended the Summer Social of the local SHRM chapter, which recently changed it's name to Richmond SHRM. I am fortunate to know many members from my recent seat on the Board of Directors (as Director of Finance). I have remained somewhat passively involved in various projects, such as HR Games, since I began my new job some eighteen months ago, and assisted in arranging a satilight meeting sponsored by my then employer. Tonight, I reaffirmed to myself that I am absolutely in the right profession. Plus I met someone who will be in the same class beginning next week as I continue my quest for my masters in human resource management.

I also came up with a term for those of us who are unemployed: it will be The Boat Club - we are all in the same boat! Now I need to create a blog for this. Stay tuned.

HR Games

Last Saturday, I volunteered to assist in the Regional HR Games held at VCU in Richmond, VA. This is an annual event, sponsored by SHRM and co-sponsored here in Richmond with the RHRMA (Richmond Human Resouce Management Association). Participation was from 28 teams from Virgina, North Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee and Georgia. It was an all day event and matched teams of two to three students from different colleges and universities. Most of the students have chosen human resources as a profession, and it was a pleasure to be witness to a very diverse crowd of young students, along with a smattering of older students. Seeing students wearing suits which was very impressive as it was their weekend! It was a competition of knowledge and quick thinking. The games were set up like the Jeopardy: answers were given based on the PHR exam and the students had to come up with the question. The first 7 rounds were 15 minutes each. After the answer was read, the teams had 15 minutes to respond. My role was the time keeper. The semi final and final rounds consisted of two 15 minute sessions. Scores were very high from some of the colleges. .

Initially I was to be in charge of finances, but when SHRM said they would take care of that aspect, I stayed on to volunteer. It was a very exciting, professionally staged event, and as this is a field I entered late in my career, it gave me great pleasure to see the number of students who are focused in this field at an early age. I only hope that most of them will be able to realize their dream upon graduation.

Leading Edge HR Executives

I keep returning to the leadership theory as to me it is very interesting and dynamic. Quick thoughts on what separates human resource executives and other players:

Accountability: Hard, critical decisions made, especially in turbulent times regarding layoffs, restructuring, or whatever the current word of the moment might be. There are many of us who entered into the field of human resources through another channel, and have to shake the stigma of just being the HR police. In some organizations, there is a common misconception that HR is responsible for hiring and firing - we are the facilitator of these actions. However, HR is heavily involved in difficult decision making if the leadership decides the only way to go is to reduce headcount. Accountability means there is a favorable relationship with leadership which is critical in gathering support.

Analytical: It is imperative to remove emotions and leverage data to proactively measure the business.

Acumen: Understanding the business is equally if not more important than understanding the human capital.

The Field of Human Resouces

The field of Human Resources is full of difficulties and challenges. The business world has large expectations that are continually changing. How can a Human Resources Manager complete the necessary tasks to run a competent department while become the strategic partner and advisor that it needs to be? There are many paradoxes within Human Resources; probably more so than with any other profession.
Administrative Expert/Strategic Leadership
Human Resources has always been known to be an administrative expert. With the business world quickly changing, Human Resources is now expected to be a strategic leader as well. Currently, this is the top paradox within Human Resources. Every article on the future of Human Resources discusses the strategic necessity. For decades, Human Resources has processed paperwork for new hires, benefits, equal opportunity reports, etc. Business is now seeing that Human Resources makes too many decisions not to be involved in all planning processes.
Remaining an administrative expert while becoming a strategic leader is a paradox of the highest caliber. Human Resources has to ensure that all of the administrative portions of the department are completed in a timely manner to ensure accurate reporting and smooth transitions for new and existing employees. Many of these services are being outsourced so that the concentration can be placed on being a strategic partner. If outsourcing is not an option, departments have to find a balance between these opposites.
Becoming a strategic Human Resources player will require planning forethought and execution. Employing the necessary talent will be more critical than ever before. The department will need people to complete the necessary administrative duties as well as higher level executives to delve in to the strategic initiatives. This involves a completely new paradox: How do we involve employees and maintain buy-in while being a high producing function? Limiting employees can create problems and high employee turnover. While involvement is critical, every employee cannot be involved in every initiative. Strong leadership is necessary to run any department, including Human Resources. Being a clear, concise and fair leader will help me to overcome these obstacles.
Employee Champion/Management Peer
The "employee champion" role deals with the day-to-day problems, concerns, and needs of individual employees. David Ulrich (1997) states that as Human Resources Professionals, we can represent employee needs and implement management agendas. Easy for him to say. Being seen by employees as someone who works for them specifically is difficult when Human Resources becomes part of the executive team. Employees start to see them as part of the bureaucracy that is so often loathed in the corporate world.
I believe that the key to becoming and being seen as an employee champion is to get out from behind the desk. Employees need to see the work that Human Resources is doing to develop them and help the organization prosper. If Human Resources can play a part in furthering the organization, it will be recognized by the employees and the shareholders, or executives of the organization. Does this truth hold when dealing with the "compliance cop" look of many Human Resources Departments?
Policy Development and Enforcement/Coach and Councilor
If policies and procedure didn't exist, entire companies would be running around with employees doing nothing and wondering why nothing was ever completed. While traditionally Manager's are the enforcement to deadlines and quality of work issues, Human Resources also plays a very large part in these activities. When behavioral problems exist that a manager cannot handle, Human Resources is brought in. Human Resources helps daily with advice to Managers who want to deal with the issues themselves. These discussions all stem back to policies and procedures.
I do not believe that policy development and enforcement, and being a coach and councilor is a paradox. As stated above, Human Resources plays a large role in putting together policies and procedure to maintain an organization. Human Resources also plays a major role in helping to define and articulate these policies and procedures. In that moment, they are both coaches and councilors. Human Resources is both coach and councilor to Managers and employees alike. Putting the rules into place and helping others to understand and implement those rules goes hand-in-hand and is simply not a paradox. It is a necessity to a strategically sound Human Resources Department.
Manager of Organization Stability/Change Agent
Keeping an organization profitable and staffed with competent talent is imperative to success. Without these two factors, organizations would fail. Part of the responsibility of the Human Resources Department is to have a "feel" for what is going on within the organization and what changes need to be made. In this way, we can see Human Resources managing the organization's stability while acting as a change agent. These two characteristics are not paradoxes. While Human Resources has always played a major role in the stability of organizations, I feel that it is only fitting to make Human Resources a major player in the organization as a change agent.
If Human Resources is spearheading change, the change will most likely be made to suit the organization and it's employees. This process would maintain stability within, but also define the role of Human Resources. It is impossible to not do both of these things congruently.
Do More With Less
I feel that the paradox of completing more tasks and being a highly visible department coupled with a reduced number of staff is the ultimate paradox for every organization, especially the Human Resources Department within them. I think it is safe to say that every organization in this country has downsized in some fashion. They may have a greater number of employees, but many of those employees are in different areas, such as sales. In my organization, the Human Resources Department is a staff of 4, headed by an Executive Director who also oversees Training, Health Services and Communication. And, by the way, is moving on to bigger and better things within the group very shortly. While the human capitol is reduced, we are expected to accomplish more than ever.
While it is extremely important to have all of the parts of an organization working together, some of them might has some dust or dirt hanging on for dear life. Bits of this will remain forever. Perfection is not an achievable goal and many organizations become great powerhouses when having to overcome obstacles and imperfections.

References
Ulrich, D. (1997). Human resource champions. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Change of Plans and other stories

Never truer for me this week is the saying -"the best laid plans of mice and men.." Today I returned to the UR bookstore to exchange one of the books for this week's class and pick up other books as on Thursday I discovered I am scheduled for training in Cleveland at another site for one our new initiatives, "OTTS" - our acronym for On track to success. (I will describe this in more detail later).
The company is rolling out this program at our site for the quality group, some 70 to 80 employees, and I am to become the subject matter expert for this program, hence the need for training. So my plans for Monday and Tuesday classes have been replaced by a different class on Tuesday (Compensation and Benefits) and a replacement of the original Tuesday class with the same subject, different professor on Thursdays (Recruitment and Retention) . I am looking forward to both. Unfortunately, I had already begun to use one of the books so that wasn't returnable. I am hopeful I will be able to utilize this book when I take the course in the future.
What really is interesting is how the current courses are intertwined. I was about to follow up with my post about Disney to include the current CEO, Bob Iger, (relative to leadership) and I ran across an article in the Wall Street Journal (January 16th, 2009) regarding Iger's massive compensation of $51.1M in 2008. (Compensation and Benefits class). Although some of the compensation is earmarked as stock options and apparently worthless, it does seem to me to be excessive and he did decline a $2.4 million bonus related to shareholder return. His salary was reported as $2M, non-equity plan compensation of $13.9M and other compensation of $773K. Does he really need $645k for security?

This Semester

This week is the first week of class at the University of Richmond and I continue my quest for a Masters in Human Resource Management. I decided to take two classes this semester as I was inspired by others who, like me, are working full time, and are successful taking three classes. However, I am certainly not ready for that work load. And one of my class mates told me he is enrolled in four classes! But I did that while working on my undergraduate degree so I have an idea of the effort that will take. The difference for me this time is the fact I have a job which engages me completely. This really has not happened to me before and I have actually had quite a checkered career since arriving in this country over 30 years ago. The jobs range from selling insurance, cars, a brief stint at encyclopedia sales, to a representative for ADP payroll, an accounting clerk, controller and finally in 2002 to what is now my passion, human resources. I didn't really realize how much I enjoyed being away from the routine of accounting until I took on the role of a human resources manager. That job was cut by 50% in November 2006 and I managed to find my current position at the end of 2007 and I started with the current company in February, 2008.
There are many reasons why I love this field. It is challenging and constant changing, quite different from the routine of finance. Already during the last year, I have assisted with three restructuring exercises, recruited more in one year than I did the whole time I was employed at the previous position, and learned so much about the business of pharmaceutical manufacturing. It is truly an exciting time in my life. I am inspired by the challenge of the education I am receiving and thoroughly enjoy the interaction between other students.
This semester I am taking HRIS and Recruitment and Retention. Several classmates were with me in the previous class, Leadership: Theory and Application and it will be a pleasure to continue to work with them again. I plan to continue with this blog and the promise to myself to continue with more on Richard Branson. I like to set myself a high goal!

A Case Study in Leadership - Richard Branson

(This is the text of my final paper for the Leadership class)
Sir Richard Branson 18th July 1950 -
Introduction
My manager told me the story of how, in 1987, she was on her way to a backpacking trip to Europe and upon arriving at Newark airport, was faced with traveling on an airline with which she was totally unfamiliar, and that airline was Virgin. She saw one of the then two aircraft, and said – “On which Mickey Mouse airline has my father put me?” She was also incredulous at the picture of what looked like a half naked woman on the front of the plane. She has not traveled this airline since, which is a tragedy as Virgin Airlines now has one of the better reputations for service in the industry. I am fortunate to have been a frequent passenger on Virgin transatlantic airlines and look forward to Virgin America. (A current project of Richard Branson)
The Early Years
Richard Branson is the founder and CEO of the Virgin Group, known for record labels, cellular phones, airlines, and many other business ventures. He is responsible for an $8 billion empire consisting of over 350 different companies around the world. Richard is also known for his unique character and leadership styles, one who is not afraid to take risks, and who believes that people are the foundation of the success of his companies. He has been a household name in the U.K. for over 22 years and is also well respected in the business world.
Richard Branson was born in 1950 and received secondary education at Stowe School in Oxfordshire, England. At age six, his mother put him out of the car and told him to try to find his own way to his grandmothers. At age 10, she put her son on a bike to ride 300 miles. In his book, “Screw it, let’s do it” Richard states he believes these lessons built character as well as endurance, and leadership qualities. He left school at 15 and although he excelled in sports (captain of both the cricket and soccer teams) he failed miserably academically, partly due to his then undiagnosed dyslexia. His Headmaster (Principal) told him he would either end up in prison, or a millionaire. Needless to say, both happened. (A little known 1889 law in England forbade the use of the words “venereal disease” in public. Richard’s first charity was “Student Valley Center” which brought awareness to this disease, and he was jailed for being specific with this term. A second term in jail resulted from the Sex Pistol’s music group using the term “bollocks” in a lyric. The word was found to also mean clergy and Richard was found not guilty. At 24, he become a millionaire)
In 1966 he borrowed just £4 from his encouraging mother to start up what was to be his first business venture ‘Student Magazine'. Who Richard is as a person is related to who he is as a leader and the identity of his companies. Branson believes that his leadership style has its origins in his upbringing, where his parents taught him to stand on his own two feet. In his book, Branson gives an honest account of this first venture (Student Magazine) into the world of business. Although the magazine failed it taught Branson some valuable lessons. His next endeavor was a mail order record company. However due to a harsh business environment (postal workers going on strike) Branson learned to adapt quickly as the market dictated in order to remain in business. Thus Virgin music store was created. One of the first musicians that signed on to this label was Mike Oldfield who wrote “Tubular Bells” for the movie the “Exorcist”. In his autobiography, Richard allows you to watch him mature as a business man and learn from his mistakes. He embraces business in an informal, fun and adventurous manner. To Branson "work is fun".
Facing an extremely competitive environment in the airline industry and cruel attacks by British Airways, Richard faced the fact he was facing possible failures in both businesses (include substantial job losses) so in 1992 Richard reluctantly sold the Virgin Music group to Thorn EMI in a record $1 billion dollar deal. (It has been reported he cried over this) This huge cash flow allowed Branson to embark on many new business ventures such as Virgin Mobile, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Money, Virgin Hotels, and expand on older ongoing ventures such as Virgin Atlantic. It also allowed him to keep employees working The Virgin group employs over 55,000 employee world wide and is a widely recognized and respected brand all over the world.
Why Richard Branson?
There are many accolades that come to mind when I think of Richard Branson, some of which relate to his leadership skills and others relating to his whole persona. He as always struck me as honest, approachable, down to earth and a genuinely caring individual. I have had the opportunity to travel multiple times on Virgin Atlantic and it is my airline of choice when flying to England. During 1998, my father became ill and I made four trips during that year, all on Virgin Atlantic. I also flew across on September 18th, 2001. On each trip, I received outstanding customer service. The one time I have flown first class was on Virgin Atlantic and this experience I would classify as the ultimate customer service experience. (Unfortunately the trip resulted in being informed the company for whom I worked was being sold!)
Richard’s extreme sense of adventure is also a behavior for which he is well known. He is not afraid of failure but also has the attitude of "you don't know until you try". This has been reflected in some of his personal and business adventures. In 1987 he was the first to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot air balloon. He was the lead sponsor for the GlobalFlyer, the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world. He created Virgin Airways and Virgin Records, followed by joining the railway business which many thought was a risky adventure. Still he persevered against odds and was able to keep Virgin Trains alive in a struggling industry. One of his most recent "risky business" is a deal he made to start Virgin Galactic, offering to take passengers into orbital space by 2009. His sense of humor is unique. When asked about failed business ventures, he mentions Virgin Brides (he said there was a distinct lack of customers) and Virgin Condoms – the same response, but he added he received a complaint from someone about the condoms, to which he responded personally. Nine months later agreed to be that child’s god parent. (Interview on www.TED.com)
Leadership Style
Richard is a very natural born leader. Battling dyslexia and struggling through school, he still managed to create this vast empire by adapting to his weakness and using it to his advantage. He was adaptable and knowing that in order to overcome his dyslexia, he decided to always keep things as simple as possible. He prefers to talk to people one on one and asks that things be broken down to the most straightforward and basic form. He says the simpler for him to understand, the easier for him to explain to others and the clearer his vision becomes. When attempting to understand the difference between gross and net, his financial manager explained the difference using a fish net. His charismatic behavior and excellent people skills tied into this have also made him an exceptional negotiator. His leadership style is definitely democratic. He truly feels that getting other peoples input and listening to what people have to say are a core value to him. He carries a notebook in his pocket all the time just in case he hears something interesting from people that he interacts with on any level. Whether it is an employee, friend, business partner or complete stranger, he knows that good ideas can come from anywhere and anytime. He has said before, "Virgin Group is an organization driven on informality and information, one that is bottom heavy rather then strangled by top level management", (Wikipedia) giving the impression that he listens to his people well below the management level.
With high level decisions, Richard will still ultimately make the top decision. He loves to take high-risk decisions if in the end he feels it's worthwhile. He also stresses on the importance of being a regular guy and making your employees feel important. He feels that praise goes much farther than criticism and he likes to make sure his people that work with him are taken care of. One example of this was when he won a lawsuit against British Airlines and was awarded $500,000 he divided the compensation amongst his staff. (Wikipedia)
Richard could definitely be considered a revolutionary out of the box thinker. He knows the value of not being afraid to leave his comfort zone but also knows that he needs to rely on others to be successful. He has admirable social prowess and persuasive traits; he really listens to people and makes those follow him feel good about it. He even writes all 55,000 of his employees a letter inviting them to call or write him with their problems, ideas or dreams. (Shepler, 1998) I think for him though, his sheer ambitious and over-achievement oriented personality have been the most important traits.
In order to demonstrate how he made Virgin the company and brand it is today, Richard wrote “Screw it, let’s do it.” He strives to encourage people to think outside the box, take risks and go with your instincts. For many entrepreneurs young and old, Richard’s autobiography is testament to the fact that once a person is determined and adaptable; success in business is not solely reliant on large financial backing and an academic background. It takes determination, a wiliness to realize failure is not the end of the world, an ability to be innovative and unafraid to take risks. The autobiography opens with an account of one of his many attempts to fly around the world in a hot air balloon. This attempt results in Richard narrowly avoiding death with more than a helping hand from lady luck. This seemingly inherent life long alliance with lady luck, together with a relentless determination to succeed and visions to soar higher than the competition have led to Richard's ultimate success.
Richard recognizes that his vision has been criticized for breaking all the ‘rules' and it is too kaleidoscopic; however, many people respect and revere the Virgin Brand and how it came about. Richard wishes to offer the reader an informal non academic read about his life and business vision, in the hope to inspire other entrepreneurs to take a risk and challenge themselves whether it is in a business or personal context.
Richard speaks with a certain truth about all matters of his life, be it the death of his first child, a failed marriage, conflicts with business partners, and his own inadequacies as a father. He appeals to all readers on an emotional and human level. We can empathize with Richard and he can empathize with us. He speaks of the informal management style of ‘student' magazine, where he conducted business from his bed, and his trying to suppress his desire for another woman while he was still married to his fears of settling down and growing up.
Richard has a love affair with life, he is constantly challenging himself, be it ballooning around the globe, venturing into space or battling it out in the courts with a national institution (British Airways). Although he may be a billionaire, he still identifies with the less fortunate, and he fights to bring a higher standard of service at a cheaper price to customers because he resents large or monopolistic organizations unfairly ripping off the customer. Richard speaks with passion about music and adventure and now in the 21st century the aspect of sending every man, woman and child into space!
British Airways used to try and bully Virgin Atlantic out of the airline business. Richard's determination and stubbornness not to be pushed out of the market by a stronger contender enabled him to succeed where so many others had failed (BA was sued for using monopolistic tactics towards Virgin Atlantic in 1993). Richard himself got involved in the Gulf war due to his contacts with Queen Noor of Jordan. Due to his first hand experiences of war and being a hippy at heart he maintains a very strong antiwar stance.
Richard has segmented each of his business into separate diverse entities under the Virgin brand, His success, I believe, lies in the diversity of Virgin. Richard states throughout the book that he believes "small is beautiful". He has ventured into a wide variety of diverse businesses such as cosmetics, financial services and publishing. His philosophy is that if one business is failing it will not bring down all his other businesses down with it. Richard is a man who has ventured into many different businesses and never had to declare bankruptcy, obviously he is doing something right!
Richard’s style of leadership is a democratic one. He is a democratic leader and can be described as someone:1) Who allows employees to take part in decision-making, (emails to all staff asking for their ideas, dreams and suggestions)2) He is a leader is that is fully supportive and developmental; 3) He is a leader that retains responsibility and is accountable for results. Richard believes he learned leadership through trial and error, since founding his first company, “Student Magazine”, at age 16. What is the most important quality of a good leader? "Having a personality of caring about people is important," he says. "You can’t be a good leader unless you generally like people. That is how you bring out the best in them." He reinforces that message with all his CEOs and top managers.Dividing his time into basic thirds, Richard places enormous value on time management skills. He breaks up his time between trouble shooting, new projects, (both charitable and business), and promoting and talking about the businesses he has set up. In addition, family time is spent during three months a year on his private island, staying connected to his business electronically. How Richard allots his time relates closely to the values of his corporation. "I’ve had to create companies that I believe in 100%," says Richard. "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 don’t want to spend my life doing something that I’m not proud of." Richard leverages that philosophy even further by using his business skills and those of his employees and managers to tackle social issues around the world.One very strong attribute is his ability to delegate. "As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation," says Richard. "I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me." Communicating success is also something leaders forget to do. People need affirmation. They want to know they did a good job. You just have to tell them. Richard’s strategy comes from his deepest inner beliefs; “in principle there were no product or service boundaries limiting a brand name, provided it was associated with quality products/services on offer”
He is also adaptable and forward thinking. Virgin Group’s creation of a low cost basic no-frills airline is a perfect example of implementation of a cost leadership strategy. In the earliest days, Virgin began “a mail order business offering popular records at prices around 15% below those charged in shops.” Later, Richard adapted towards the differentiation strategy which is creating a product or service that is different and unique. In 1999, Virgin held a big group meeting in which the main focus was e commerce and an “undefying document – the Virgin Charter”; it was to be used as an effective medium for them to conduct their business and allow them to reach a much broader market. The charter applies to a selection of people who wish to have all their travel arrangements sorted out for them.
Although I could not definitively discover his MBTI – I would place him as an ENFP. “Initiators of change, keenly receptive of possibilities, and who energize and stimulate through their contagious enthusiasm.” (MBTI summary from Pure Culture). He would surround himself with ESTJ personality types.
Richard believes that if employees are happy, then they will do a better job; and if they do a better job, then customers will be happy, the business will do well and all will reap the benefits. Informal groups increase attitudinal norms and standards of behavior. That is, group members have a tendency to think and act alike; continuous association results in shared values and norms. Those grow out of ‘needs to maintain the group, remove sources of stress, and promote co-operation’ (Webber 1976, p.499). Richard Richard pays more attention to his employees to make them happier. He also believes that if you spend 80% of your life working, why not have fun doing so? He believes that company leaders need to ensure the employees are enjoying their jobs. Then in return, group members affect each other and do a better job to attract more customers. His words and actions demonstrate that informal social relationships influence group member’s feeling and behavior to enhance productivity. Every staff member has Richard’s home address and email and is encouraged to write. I would like to say there must be some limitations for Richard but it seems that all of his leadership qualities have made him quite a success. He has said before that every business venture he joins in is not solely for the money, but for one reason or another he seems to make a profit every time and the Virgin Empire just gets bigger.
Strengths and Weaknesses
His strengths lie in finding the right people and creating an environment in which they can flourish and build a profitable group of businesses. He preaches learning by testing and making mistakes and follows that philosophy himself. Success depends on learning. He treats employees as extended family and believes in hiring the right people, give them responsibility to do the job without interference, and the freedom to be creative and innovative. Mistakes have to be made in order to learn and grow. Richard believes in helping people achieve things that they did not know they were capable of. If I could think of one limitation, the only thing may be getting too over ambitious to the point where he makes some bad business deals. His recent adventure with the Virgin Galactic may be an example with space travel being such an out of reach market, but this is yet to be determined. He admits he is easily bored and if something does not spark his interest, he becomes disengaged.
His Legacy
Richard is truly a unique leader and an inspiration to anyone wishing to take over the business world. He has taught us that businesses are not built and run by one man, and also that if you don't fall down in life you will never learn to get up. For him, taking no is not answer in his personal or business life and it almost seems as if the sky is the limit. In 1999 the Queen awarded Richard with a knighthood for his ‘services to entrepreneurship'. Married twice and proud father to a musician son and pediatric doctor daughter, Richard alternates his time between his homes in London and Oxfordshire. Special occasions and holidays are spent among family and friends on his private Island ‘Necker' nestled in the heart of the Caribbean. From his humble beginnings in Tynards farm house in Stowe, he has become one of the most wealthy, charismatic and influential business men of his time. He is extremely philanthropic and believes that social responsibility is a given for people in his position. He recently pledged to commit $3 billion, profits from his travel firms over the next ten years, towards the reduction of global warming. He is the patron of the International Rescue Corps. In 2004, he engaged all his staff around the world to tackle social issues, such as Children in Need, by setting up “Virgin Unite”. He truly believes that if one is as fortunate as himself, it is his/her duty to give back as much as possible. When Kuwait was invaded by Saddam Hussein, he organized 40,000 blankets to be flown to refuges. He had to fight government ministers to ensure the supplies reached those who were in need. He gathered a group on his island that included Jimmy Carter, Larry Page of Google, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Peter Gabriel and Tony Blair to discuss global warming related issues and how they can be addressed. In 2007, he announced the setting up of a new Global sciences and technology prize called the Virgin Earth Challenge. He believed that prizes of this nature encourage technological advancements for the good of mankind. The prize is a $25 million award which will be given to the individual or group that is able to demonstrate a commercially viable design resulting in the removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for ten years without any harmful affects. The judges will include Al Gore. He has teamed with Nelson Mandela and other leaders to help resolve difficult global conflicts - without any vested interest personally.
Richard Branson is the antithesis of what one would normally picture as a high flying executive – he does fly high, in balloons, and at 58, still leads life to the fullest, and yet is extremely approachable and down to earth. He does not use his title, but if his presence can create publicity for any of his charitable causes, he will relish that opportunity. He has cameo roles in movies. He is a fan of Star Trek and offered William Shatner a free ride on the inaugural space launch of Virgin Galactic is made. He has listed on both the most admired and the most hated lists in the UK. It matters not. It is difficult to separate Richard Branson from the Virgin identity, which in itself is a phenomenon. He has achieved wealth, fame and respect, while managing to have a good time. He is a brand builder, a quality he shares with Oprah Winfrey and Lee Iacocca. Will Virgin survive without Richard Branson? I truly believe so. Disney has certainly survived without Walt Disney.
“I never went into business to make money. I always said that I wanted to be the best, rather than the biggest. And at the end of the day, it all comes down to people. Nothing even comes close.” (Sir Richard Branson)
Conclusion:
Richard truly feels that getting other peoples input and listening to what people have to say are a core value to him. He has said before, “Virgin Group is an organization driven on informality and information, one that is bottom heavy rather then strangled by top level management”, showing that he listens to people below the management level and cooperates and intakes ideas at all levels.
Note: Branson is slowly stepping back from the day-to-day management of the company. His place is gradually being taken by Virgin Group chief executive Stephen Murphy.
Note: As Richard Branson is not one to stand on ceremony, I have used his first name extensively.

REFERENCES Books that were used: “Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons In Life”(Quick Reads) By Richard Branson“Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way” by Richard BransonBusiness the Richard Branson way by Titi Joluhar.INTERNET SITES USED werewww.virgin.comwww.virginsynergies.comwww.virgintrust.comWikipedia, Richard Branson, retrieved October 30th from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson IFCAI, Richard Branson/Herb Kelleher - Leader Extraordinaire, retrieved October 24th, 2008 from http://www.icmr.icfai.org/casestudies/catalogue/Leadership%20and%20Entrepreneurship/LDEN021.
Listened to an interview on www. TED.com (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds)

Richard Branson

The Leadership Class final paper was to be a study of a leader, someone we admired and to whom we could relate the learning gained throughout the course. Although my choice was Richard Branson, he was not my first pick. However, after conducting my research and writing the final paper, I am now truly inspired by Richard and continue to be amazed by his spirit, his abilities, his characteristics, and of course, his leadership style. During our fireside chat, my opening statement was the fact I was sure many of my classmates had chosen their subject matter because of someone to whom they could relate, and this is certainly true in my case. During the semester break my reading included Richard's latest book - "Business Stripped Bare." It was given to me as a Christmas present and I will keep this book on the top of my list for some time to come. I will also highly recommend this to others in the business world. I am planning on posting the original paper and have decided to add more information as I feel I have only just scratched the surface. I hope others will enjoy the paper as much as I really enjoyed writing it.

Time to transition

This week marks the end of the leadership class at University of Richmond and I look forward to the next class: Recruitment and Retention. My heartfelt thanks go to Dr. Bob Kelley who has truly been an inspiration for me, not only in this class, but also in Strategic Human Resource Management which I took with him in the summer of 2005. There are many qualities when determining a leader, but I believe that one extremely important facet of believing in a leader is to have a connection. Dr. Kelley is one of those rare individuals who makes everyone in his class feel that connection.
The leadership class is the reason behind this blog, and I am convinced my blog will continue as I continue on my academic quest to complete my Masters in Human Resource Management.
It will be very interesting to relate the Recruitment and Retention class to the leadership class and I am hoping to learn some creative methods of both, and am curious to know how today's current economic crisis may alter the course. I want to learn how to differentiate between the generations when it comes to both recruiting and retention, and be able to take ideas back to my management. However, I learned last week that the Executive Director of Human Resources at my location is moving up the corporate ladder with a transfer to South America and our department will transition to either an internal or external candidate. Our current Executive Director has achieved much during her tenure, especially in the area of raising the visibility of HR and the importance of having a seat at the table so each of us who remain are hoping for an equally as dynamic individual to replace her. At my company, we are fortunate to have women at high levels within the organization, and not just in HR. The transition will be completed by March of 2009 and I should have news of the replacement sometime before then. Who knows? Perhaps it will be some I know!

Apple and Tim Cook

A couple of my classmates will be soon discussing Steve Jobs and his leadership abilities, and I have no desire to rain on their parade but did find the article in "Fortune" magazine (November, 2008) interesting from the standpoint that the mention of Steve Jobs appearing "frightfully skinny and pale" at a company event can automatically a) cause Apple's stock prices to tumble and b) begin more speculation of his successor. It is rare that any mention is made of Steve's vegan diet and obsession with micro biotic regiment which will naturally result in a lean look. The mere mention of a heart attack on someone's blog (which turned out to be false) knocked $10 million from Apple's market value.
Tim Cook has filled in for Steve Jobs while Steve was recovering from pancreatic cancer and at other times and is the subject of the Fortune article as the number 2 man. There is little difference in their ages (53 to 48) and Cook is also a health nut and from photographs also resembles a string bean. Apple is very closed regarding their succession planning strategy and only a handful of people are privy to this information. Whereas Jobs is pretty much an open book, Cook is the exact opposite, which is probably another reason that some have concerns about him as the successor to Jobs. He graduated from Auburn University in engineering and is intensely private. He is considered a workaholic (which he has in common with Jobs), with few interests outside of Apple, besides cycling, the outdoors and Auburn football. He has been at Apple since 1998 after a period at Compaq Computer. His mission was to clean up the manufacturing efforts at Apple and not long after his arrival, is said to have mentioned in a meeting how bad things were in China and 30 minutes later looked at the key of operations, Sabih Kahn, "why are you still here?". Without stopping for a change of clothes, Kahn drove to the airport and booked an open ticket to China.
When faced with falling margins, some companies will either increase their prices or reduce costs; Apple does both. Cook is operationally extremely savvy - keeping things under control when the marketing and design team drive consumers wild. Cook is able to negotiate with suppliers and lock in prices for several years in advance and even prepay for materials. This is obviously helped by a balance sheet is reflecting $24.5 billion in cash and no debt.
In 2000, Cook took over the sales force as well as customer support. Instead of store employees at places like Best Buy, Apple employees are in place. He filled in for Jobs in 2004 and was named Chief Operating Officer. He is known for being brutal in meetings, holding a standing Sunday night staff meetings by phone in preparation for more meetings on Monday, shredding people in those meetings by asking questions he knows that person cannot answer. He is known for being the first in and the last out of the office every day.
His style is very different from Jobs and maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't. He is brilliant operationally, but not creatively. But if he surrounds himself with creative people and Steve Jobs does step down, Cook may be the man to carry on. As long as Steve Jobs stays healthy, life at Apple will probably remain as it is now.
I look forward to my classmates detailed discussions on Steve Jobs.