RICHARD BRANSON, founder of the Virgin group of companies, whose diverse enterprises include airlines, record labels, hotels and so on, says when he was preparing to write The Virgin Way, his new book on leadership, he searched the term ‘leadership’ on Amazon and got 93,467 hits. The knighted British entrepreneur admits to having read none of those books.
However, like Losing My Virginity, his book that has barely moved from the business bestseller’s list since 1998, The Virgin Way, underlined with humour-laced philosophy, is likely to fly off the shelves too.
To be a good leader, Branson emphasises on the need to be a good listener and to break down organisational hurdles. In his own words, a good leader “must have vision, creativity and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to influence others to follow and support them in the challenges of moving an organisation into uncharted and often highly risky territory”.
Branson’s narrative touches on some important topics. For example, there is a chapter on the importance of innovation and another one urges entrepreneurs to manufacture their own luck by working really hard and capitalising on serendipity.
Branson expresses scorn for corporate mission statements, calling them hollow and generic. On hiring, he says, one should consider finding someone from within the company to maintain continuity. Bring in an outsider if you want to shake things up, he says.
Branson’s run-in with the law is well-known and he recounts it here, almost with relish, using his own example to prove that offenders deserve a second chance.
Take risks, relish in being the underdog, find holes in the operations of the ‘big dogs’, exploit them, change the game and finally beat them—these are Branson’s rules. However, he is not infallible. In fact, he has experienced more business failures than successes and he is frank about some of his failures, such as Virgin Cola, which fizzled out in the battle for market share with Coke in the mid-1990s. He acknowledges in retrospect that he underestimated Coke’s “might, determination, distribution and sheer marketing clout”, adding that it is easier to win customers to an airline with “tangibly superior” customer service than to change their “preferences for a fizzy drink”.
All through the book, Branson emphasises on creating a fun working environment, as a way to maintain passion and build teamwork. He is especially keen on parties and charitable volunteer work to help employees get to know each other.
Branson does not have an office as such, for he prefers to visit his businesses to see people where they work rather than they coming to him. If a more formal one-to-one conversation is required, he likes it to be in the living room of his house, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, shoes off.
Beware, though, his casual manner belies a sharp brain. Senior representatives of some of the world’s biggest, toughest, most security-conscious corporations say what they have said to Branson has come back to haunt them in future litigations.
Currently, Branson lives on Necker, his Caribbean island. While he says he made the move because he craved the lifestyle, it also means that he gains considerable UK tax benefits as a non-resident. For years, long before he based himself in Necker, Virgin profits were routed through offshore trusts.
Overall, in his new book, Branson doesn’t offer leadership lessons—be a good listener, hire the right people, admit your failures, quickly move on and the likes—that haven’t already been covered. The book, in fact, is less about leadership lessons and more about Branson’s passion for entrepreneurship.