Richard Branson Biography ● Born in 1950 in England ● Founder of the Virgin Group ● Started his first venture at age 16: the Student Magazine ● Dyslexia - Poor academic performance ● Prison or become a Millionaire? Student ● At age 16, Branson created a magazine at school. ● Interviewed famous personalities and shared their stories in the magazine (Mick Jagger) ● At age 20, he created a mail-order record business that grew considerably. ● Why Virgin? ● By 1984, Virgin was operating 8 different companies Losing My Virginity ● Written in 1998 ● Highlights his life from 1950 - 2007 ● New version out Power & Leadership ● Used referent power ○ Strong interpersonal relationship skills ● Charismatic person ● Collaboration is very important for success ● Manager & Leader ○ Leads by example Management Style ● Participative management style ○ Wants everyone to be involved in decisions ○ He knows he doesn’t know everything and needs help of others to attain goals ● Gave big responsibilities to people he trusted ○ Record Shop ○ Record Company ○ Music publishing Company Goal: Set up everything that a rock star needed Communication & Decision Making ● The struggle of managing so many subsidiaries ● “It’ll be fun” ○ Business criteria ● Hard time with confrontation ○ Hates letting people go - firing people Employee Morale and Motivation ● Branson tried to retain employees for as long as possible ● He tries to make people reinvent themselves (p.258) Teamwork ● Made his family involved in his business ○ Not a family company in a vertical sense, but rather a horizontal sense ● Fundamental driver of success at Virgin will always be people working together. “At Virgin, customers come second” Richard Branson Conflict Management ● Tries to avoid conflicts at all costs ○ Hates confrontation ● Rarely loses temper ○ He said he can count on his fingers the amount of times he has lost his temper ● Conflicts with banks ○ They would not lend him money ○ Did not believe in what he had Ethics & Integrity ● Tax Evasion ○ In 1978, illegally obtained export documents ○ 33% tax on records sold domestically ○ He traveled to the belgium border, get export documents, then go back to England and sell them in England, therefore avoiding the 33% tax. ○ He spent the night in jail. Had to pay 60,000 pounds or he would go back to jail ● Assault Allegation (2017) ○ False claims Virgin Subsidiaries ● Virgin Active ● Virgin Mobile ● Virgin Atlantic ● Virgin Money ● Virgin Care ● Virgin Oceanic ● Virgin Connect ● Virgin Orbit ● Virgin Galactic ● Virgin Unite ● Virgin Health Bank ● Virgin Vacations ● Virgin Holidays ● Virgin Voyages ● Virgin Hotels ● Virgin Hyperloop One ● Virgin Megastores Achievements ● World Record attempts ○ Fastest atlantic ocean crossing - 1985 ■ 2 attempts ■ Boat and hot air balloon ○ Fastest pacific ocean crossing (Japan to Arctic Canada) - 1991 ■ In hot air balloon ○ Fastest (attempted) circumnavigation around the globe (see picture) - 1995 & 1998 ■ Made it from Morocco to Hawaii ○ Fastest English Channel crossing - 2004 ■ 1 hour 40 minutes and 6 seconds ■ Used an amphibious vehicle ○ His lifestyle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CAgx-yIBXw Richard Branson now ● Net worth of $5.1 billion ● Necker Island ● He enjoys life by waking up at 5am every morning ○ Followed by tennis, run or kite surfing ● Now lives in British Virgin Islands (Owns Necker Island) ● Smokes weed with his son ○ Believes drugs should be legalized ● Part of the mile-high club (1990) ● Drinks up to 20 cups of tea per day Questions?.