(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)
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)
