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Early On In Your Career, Find Someone Better Than Yourself To Run The Business On A Day-to-day Basis. Remove Yourself, Maybe Even From The Building, And From The Nitty-gritty. That Way, You're Going To Be Able To See The Bigger Picture And Think Of New Areas To Go Into.

-Richard Branson

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Early On In Your

Richard Branson

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Early On In Your Career, Find Someone Better Than Yourself To Run The Business On A Day-to-day Basis. Remove Yourself, Maybe Even From The Building, And From The Nitty-gritty. That Way, You're Going To Be Able To See The Bigger Picture And Think Of New Areas To Go Into.

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We Always Enter Markets Where The Leaders Are Not Doing A Great Job, So We Can Go In And Disrupt Them By Offering Better Quality Services.

We've Definitely Cracked The Technology. Now We're Just Trying To Be Able To Produce The Amount Of Fuels That We Need To Satisfy Our Own Needs And Then Other People's Needs.

Be Swift To Take Advantage Of Business Opportunities. Bigger Companies Are Too Cumbersome To Move Quickly; This Can Be A Competitive Advantage For You.

Of Course An Individual Can Make A Huge Difference But It Is When Those Individuals Come Together With Like-minded Souls That They Can Change The World For Ever And Importantly For The Better.

Every Aspect Of Life Is Magnificent And Wonderful. It's So Important To Keep Fit And Healthy.

There Is No Greater Thing You Can Do With Your Life And Your Work Than Follow Your Passions – In A Way That Serves The World And You.

Develop The Business Around The People; Build It, Don't Buy It; And, Then, Be The Best.

If You Don't Have Time For The Small Things, You Won't Have Time For The Big Things

It's Really Important To Find An Hour Or Two To A Day To Make Sure That You Keep Healthy, Keep Fit. It's Very Easy Just To Forget That Aspect. And If You're Feeling Really Good And Fit, I Think You Can Get Two Or Three Extra Hours A Day Of Hard Work In As Well.

You Can Never Go Too Far Wrong By Thinking Like A Customer Who’s New To The Business.

I Rely Far More On Gut Instinct Than Researching Huge Amounts Of Statistics.

What's The Most Critical Factor In Any Business Decision You'll Ever Have To Make? Basically, It Boils Down To This Question: If This All Crashes, Will It Bring The Whole House Tumbling Down Like A Pack Of Cards? One Business Matra Remains Embedded In My Brain - Protect The Downside.

With All My Employees, I Listen To Them, Trust In Them, Believe In Them, Respect Them And Let Them Have A Go! I Never Believe I Know Better Than They Do And Have Been Fortunate Over The Years To Build Up A Very Strong Management Team Whom I Can Trust And Take Advice From.

I Have Always Believed That Business Should Be A Force For Good.

I Like To Set Myself A New Adventure Challenge At Least Once Or Twice A Year Because I Love That Side Of My Life. I Love Getting Fit And Training For It.

I Doubt That I Would Have Been Successful In My Career And Happy In My Personal Life If I Hadn't Prioritized Health And Fitness. Staying Active Ensures Mental Preparedness And The Courage To Try New Things. It Helped Me To Stay Focused On Work But Also To Have Fun And Try New Approaches And Explore New Places. That's The Spirit Behind Virgin Sport - We Wanted To Introduce Fitness Activities That Are Enjoyable, Accessible And Part Of Your Overall Lifestyle.

If People Are Crazy Enough To Dare, Impossible Things Happen.

Impossible Things

"i Think The Most Important Thing Is That In The Last Seven Days We've Just Had The Greatest Adventure Of Our Lifetimes." "i'm Inquisitive ... And I Love A New Challenge... And If I Feel That We Can Do It Better Than It's Been Done By Other People, We'll Have A Go."

Whenever I See People Getting A Bad Deal I Want To Step In And Do Something About It. Of Course, This Is Not Pure Altruism - There's A Profit To Be Made Too.

A Company Is Simply A Group Of People. And As A Leader Of People, You Have To Be A Great Listener, You Have To Be A Great Motivator, You Have To Be Very Good At Praising And Looking For The Best In People. People Are No Different From Flowers. If You Water Flowers, They Flourish. If You Praise People, They Flourish. That's A Critical Attribute Of A Leader.

My Philosophy In Life Is That You Only Live Once. Live Life To Its Fullest.

You Only Live Once

Never Go Into Business Purely To Make Money. If That's The Motive You're Better Off Doing Nothing.

Universities Are Fantastic Places To Gain Knowledge On A Subject, Develop A Personal Network, Explore Your Character And Learn New Techniques To Approach Problems.

A Good Leader Leads From The Front. Don't Get Stuck In The Office. Get Out, Meet People And Listen To Their Stories.

Mentorship Is Key To Unlocking Each Of Our Entrepreneurial Spirits.

I Have Always Lived My Life By Thriving On Opportunity And Adventure. Some Of The Best Ideas Come Out Of The Blue, And You Have To Keep An Open Mind To See Their Virtue.

In A Sense, When We Started Virgin Atlantic, I Was Trying To Create An Airline For Myself. If You Try To Build The Perfect Airline For Yourself, It Will Be Appreciated By Others.

Respect Is How To Treat Everyone, Not Just Those You Want To Impress.

Complexity Is Your Enemy. Any Fool Can Make Something Complicated. It Is Hard To Keep Things Simple.

Well, I Think That There's A Very Thin Dividing Line Between Success And Failure. And I Think If You Start A Business Without Financial Backing, You're Likely To Go The Wrong Side Of That Dividing Line.

Confidence Breeds Confidence And Negativity Breeds Negativity. Treat Those Around You With Respect And Dignity And They Will Thrive.

We Must Rapidly Wean Ourselves Off Our Dependence On Coal And Fossil Fuels.

In The '80's My Gut Feeling Was That Airlines Were Crap. I Hated Spending Time On Planes. I Thought We Could Create The Kind Of Airline I'd Like. So We Got A Secondhand 747 And Gave It A Go.

I Just Love Every Minute Of My Life. I Love The Variety. Every Minute Of Every Day I'm Meeting Fascinating New People, Learning And Working With Wonderful Teams Of People Creating Wonderful Things.

I Think Sometimes When You Come From A Conservative Background, You Want To Rebel A Little Bit. I Dropped Out Of School At 15 And Learned Early In Life That Saying Yes Was A Lot More Fun Than Saying No. If You Have The Opportunity To Explore The Skies And Attempt Something People Haven't Done Before - Well, I Was Damned If I Was Going To Sit Around Watching Television While Someone Else Was Doing It.

Actually, We Did A Fun April Fools' Thing With Google A Couple Of Years Ago, Which We Called Virgle. And We Looked For Volunteers To Go On A One-way Trip To Mars.

People Who Think And Say We More Often Than I Are A Lot More Likely To Succeed.

I'm Not Superstitious. I Don't Really Believe In Star Signs, Sorry, Or Superstitions.

Just Watching Israel Bombarding Palestine And Palestine Sending One Or Two Little Rockets Over To Israel - It's Just Too Sad For Words.

Age Isn't As Important So Long As You Are Surrounded By People You Love, Doing Things You Passionately Believe In.

If You Offer People A Decent Service, If You Give Them You Know Internet Access, If Their Phones Are Not Cut Off On The Trains, You Know If You Have Plugs Where They Can Plug In Their Computers, And If You Have A Smiling, Cheerful Staff; And If You Can Travel Really Quickly, Then You Can Make A Success Out Of The Rail Business.

Internet Access

It's So Graceful To Be Blown By The Wind, To Go Where The Wind Takes You. Just Drifting Over Beautiful Rivers In A Balloon Is Perfect.

It Took Me Years To Work Out The Difference Between Net And Gross. In Meetings I Just Used To Say, 'tell Me If It's Good Or Bad News.

Having A Good Network Can Be Invaluable. It Opens Doors For You And Allows You To Enter Into Opportunities That Are Beneficial To Your Business.

Business Is What Concerns Us. If You Care About Something Enough To Do Something About It, You're In Business

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I Don’t Think Of Work As Work And Play As Play. It’s All Living.

If You Have Conflicts, Everything Breaks Down In Society. Kids Can't Go To School. Basic Health Can't Be Looked After. Every Aspect Of Society Falls Apart.

Explore This Next Great Frontier Where The Boundaries Between Work And Higher Purpose Are Merging Into One, Where Doing Good Really Is Good For Business.

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The Bigger The Dream, The Greater The Opportunity

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If You Are Seizing On A New Business Opportunity, Deliberately Move Your Customers' Expectations Up A Few Notches And Consistently Over-deliver On Your Promises - You Will Leave Your Competitors Struggling To Catch Up.

I Never Learned The Rules In The First Place. To Change The Game Is At The Heart Of What Virgin Stands For, So The Company Culture Has Always Been: "don't Sweat It: Rules Were Meant To Be Broken."

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Always Think, 'what's The Worst That Can Happen' And Have Some Kind Of Strategy To Deal With It

Self Improvement

Focus On Your Business Strengths And Keep Its Weaknesses Away From The Competition Or Public.

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The Idea That Business Is Strictly A Numbers Affair Has Always Struck Me As Preposterous. For One Thing, I've Never Been Particularly Good At Numbers, But I Think I've Done A Reasonable Job With Feelings. And I'm Convinced That It Is Feelings - And Feelings Alone - That Account For The Success Of The Virgin Brand In All Of Its Myriad Forms.

I Am Always Working On The Go. I Have Never Had An Office That I Work Out Of And Work Has Become Intertwined With My Personal Life. Fortunately I Am Able To Work From My Home And Can Answer My E-mails In The Morning, Play Tennis Or Kitesurf In The Afternoon To Keep Fit And Have Meetings Or Phone Calls In Between.

If You Can Make Peoples Lives A Lot Better, You've Got A Really Good Business.

I Wanted To Be An Editor Or A Journalist, I Wasn't Really Interested In Being An Entrepreneur, But I Soon Found I Had To Become An Entrepreneur In Order To Keep My Magazine Going.

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You've Got To Take Risks If You're Going To Succeed. I Would Much Rather Ask Forgiveness Than Permission.

I Learnt From An Early Age This Need To Delegate Responsibility Out To Other Team Members As There Is Just Too Much For One Person To Do Themselves. What Is The Point Of Hiring Talented Team Members If You Don't Give Them The Freedom To Make The Most Of The Chance You Have Given Them?

It Can Be A Challenge Not To Let Failure, Or Negativity From Others, Prevent You From Going After What You Believe In And What In Your Gut You Know Can Work. However It Is Important To Face These Challenges Head On And Give Them A Go And Importantly Don't Beat Yourself Up If You Fail - Just Pick Yourself Up, Learn As Much As You Can From The Experience And Get On With The Next Challenge.

Do Not Be Embarrassed By Your Failures, Learn From Them And Start Again.

Have Faith In Yourself. Think Yes Not No. Live Life To The Full. Never Give Up.

We'd Love To Be Involved With The Creation Of Something Very Special, Something Quite Large And Something Quite Exciting.

And [we Hope To Sell] The Clean Fuels To Other Airlines. I Mean, The Exciting Thing About The Breakthrough With Clean Fuels For The Airline Industry Is There's Only 1,700 Pumps In The World That Fill Up The Airlines.

Although My Spelling Is Still Sometimes Poor, I Have Managed To Overcome The Worst Of My Difficulties Through Training Myself To Concentrate.

I've Been Very Lucky. I Come From A Very Close Family. I'm Also In A Relationship That's Been Really Good. Lasted A Long Time. We've Got Wonderful Kids From That Relationship, And They've Had The Benefit Of Being Together. It's Fantastic To Have That Sort Of Togetherness. It's A Rarity These Days.

My Biggest Motivation? Just To Keep Challenging Myself. I See Life Almost Like One Long University Education That I Never Had - Everyday I'm Learning Something New.

Self Confidence

You Know I Think If The People Who Work For A Business Are Proud Of The Business They Work For, They'll Work That Much Harder, And Therefore, I Think Turning Your Business Into A Real Force For Good Is Good Business Sense As Well.

I've Obviously Been Born Fortunate. I Love People. I Enjoy Every Single Minute Of My Life.

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Good Customer Service Begins At The Top. If Your Senior People Don't Get It, Even The Strongest Links Further Down The Line Can Become Compromised.

I Personally Don't Believe Anything Is Impossible. With Enough Determination And Effort, Almost Everything Is Possible.

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Run Lean; Avoid Unnecessary Expenses.

Every Great Movement In The World Starts With A Tiny Group Of People Who Simply Refuse To Accept A Situation.

If Young People Do See Me As An Example (i'm Very Flattered If They Do!) I Hope It Is As Someone Who Will Go Out There And Live Life To The Full.

In Syria, If [bashar Al-] Assad Had Just Been A Statesman And Handed Over The Reigns In Time, Syria Would Not Be Heading Down The Nightmare That It Is Today.

Believe In Yourself And Back Yourself To Come Out On Top. A Fulfilling Career Is Waiting For Those Brave Enough To Find It.

In Times Of Recession There Are Massive Opportunities And Fortunes To Be Made, So For New Up And Coming Entrepreneurs, This Is The Time To Go And Start A Business.

My People Are At The Core Of Everything I Do, And I Recognize The Importance Of Giving Them The Flexibility To Balance Work Around Their Personal Lives.

You Can Create A Business, Choose A Name, But Unless People Know About It You're Not Going To Sell Any Products.

My Parents Brought Me Up With This Philosophy. You Must Do Things. You Mustn't Watch What Other People Are Doing. You Must Not Listen To What Other People Are Doing.

We Love Formula One And Think Formula One's Great. But We Think Formula E Is Different. We Would Be Making A Big Mistake If We Tried To Compete With Formula One And Be Similar To Formula One, We Have To Be Radically Different To Formula One To Have A Chance Of Survival. I Don't Mean Survival By Beating Formula One But Co-existing Complimentary To Formula One.

If You Are A New Startup Company, Try Not To Arouse The Interest Or Suspicion Of Your Competition; Especially If They Are A Bigger Company. They Can Crush You While You Are Still In Your Startup Phase. Lie Low While Still Strengthening Your Bottom Line.

As An Entrepreneur, You've Got To Protect Against The Company Going Bust. And As An Adventurer, You've Got To Protect Against Losing Your Life. It's Even More Important As An Adventurer To Get It Right.

You Never Know With These Things When You're Trying Something New What Can Happen. This Is All Experimental.

Trying Something New

Good Brands Reflect The Histories Of The Time And The Group Of People That Made Them. They Can Not Be Copied. They Can Not Be Recycled.

I Think You Should Do In Life What You Think You'll Make A Real Difference At. And Generally, As A Businessperson, You Do Things You Don't Really Have Experience In.

I Believe A Great Company, Whether Improving A Sector Or Creating A New One, Needs To Have An Excellent Product Or Service At Its Core; Needs Strong Management To Execute The Plan And A Good Brand To Give It The Edge Over Its Competitors. Providing Quality Service, Combined With Value For Money And In An Innovative Way Ensures You Offer Real Value - And Finally To Be Responsible To Society And The Planet.

People Do Not Mind People Who Try Things And Fail. If You're A Good Entrepreneur, You're Not Going To Succeed In Every Single Thing You Try. You've Got To Try To Succeed At More Things Than Fail.

As Much As You Need A Strong Personality To Build A Business From Scratch, You Also Must Understand The Art Of Delegation.

The Best Advice I Got From My Dad? Wear A Condom.

A Generation Ago, The Image Was That You Had To Trample Everyone Else Down To Succeed; But I Don't Believe That Makes Good Business Sense.

The Balloons Only Have One Life And The Only Way Of Finding Out Whether They Work Is To Attempt To Fly Around The World.

Finding The One

We've All Got To Do Everything We Can To Avoid Conflicts.

Don't Bother Doing Something Unless You're Radically Different From The Competition.

I Love Stirring The Pot. I Love Giving Big Companies A Run For Their Money - Especially If They're Offering Expensive, Poor-quality Products.

... Our First Priority Should Be The People Who Work For The Companies, Then The Customers, Then The Shareholders. Because If The Staff Are Motivated Then The Customers Will Be Happy, And The Shareholders Will Then Benefit Through The Company's Success.

After All - Life Is Not A Dress Rehearsal!

Setting Customer Expectations At A Level That Is Aligned With Consistently Deliverable Levels Of Customer Service Requires That Your Whole Staff, From Product Development To Marketing, Works In Harmony With Your Brand Image.

I Set Up This Magazine Called Student When I Was 16, And I Didn't Do It To Make Money - I Did It Because I Wanted To Edit A Magazine. There Wasn't A National Magazine Run By Students, For Students. I Didn't Like The Way I Was Being Taught At School. I Didn't Like What Was Going On In The World, And I Wanted To Put It Right.

I Think Business Needs To Have A Heart And To Have A Heart A Company Must Be More Than Just A Moneymaking Machine.

We Hope To Create Thousands Of Astronauts Over The Next Few Years And Bring Alive Their Dream Of Seeing The Majestic Beauty Of Our Planet From Above, The Stars In All Their Glory And The Amazing Sensations Of Weightlessness And Space Flight.

Talent Comes From Experience And Failure

Self Improvement

Well, The Odds Must Be Against Anybody Being Able To Fly Around The World In A Balloon On The First Attempt. All Of Us Who Are Attempting To Go Around The World In Balloons Are Effectively Flying In Experimental Craft Because These Craft Cannot Be Tested.

Our Model Is To Develop Each Business Separately With Its Own Shareholder And Management - This Way We Can Concentrate On The Job In Hand, Rather Than Be Part Of Some Enormous And Faceless Conglomerate.

If You Don't Make Bold Moves, The World Doesn't Move Forward.

It's Far More Difficult Being A Small-business Owner Starting A Business Than It Is For Me With Thousands Of People Working For Us And 400 Companies. Building A Business From Scratch Is 24 Hours, 7 Days A Week, Divorces, It's Difficult To Hold Your Family Life Together, It's Bloody Hard Work And Only One Word Really Matters - And That's Surviving.

Money Is A Poor Indicator Of Success.

All You Have In Life Is Your Reputation: You May Be Very Rich, But If You Lose Your Good Name, Then You'll Never Be Happy. The Thought Will Always Lurk At The Back Of Your Mind That People Don't Trust You.

Free Publicity And Word Of Mouth Is Probably The Best And Cheapest Form Of Advertising. Learn To Use It To Your Advantage.

What Is A Business? It's Simply An Idea That Makes Someone Else's Life Better

The Extraordinary Thing About The Record Industry Is How Success Can Take Off Without Warning.

Extraordinary Things

I Myself Have Invested In Uber And Hailo, I Think They Offer Great Alternatives To Disrupt Markets That Have Remained Unchanged For Many Years.

Customers Shouldn't Just Think Of Your Business As A Place To Buy A Product Or Use A Service - It Should Be A Fun Place To Be.

If You Want Swashbuckling Action In Your Life, Become An Entrepreneur And Give It A Go.

If You Get Your Face And Your Name Out There Enough, People Will Start To Recognize You.

I Definitely Go On Gut Instinct But It Has Always Had The Back Up Of Research And Information.

The First Thing To Look For When Searching For A Great Employee Is Somebody With A Personality That Fits With Your Company Culture. Most Skills Can Be Learned, But It Is Difficult To Train People On Their Personality.

Look, If You Can Indulge In Your Passion, Life Will Be Far More Interesting Than If You're Just Working. You'll Work Harder At It, And You'll Know More About It. But First You Must Go Out And Educate Yourself On Whatever It Is That You've Decided To Do - Know More About Kite-surfing Than Anyone Else. That's Where The Work Comes In. But If You're Doing Things You're Passionate About, That Will Come Naturally.

So I've Seen Life As One Long Learning Process. And If I See - You Know, If I Fly On Somebody Else's Airline And Find The Experience Is Not A Pleasant One, Which It Wasn't In - 21 Years Ago, Then I'd Think, Well, You Know, Maybe I Can Create The Kind Of Airline That I'd Like To Fly On.

Capitalism Has Never Stood Back And Examined Itself Properly. I Think Everybody Knows That Capitalism Is The Only Thing That Works, But Is The Current Form Of Capitalism The Best Way Of It Working?

I Think That Not Relying Too Heavily On One Bank And One Bank Manager Is A Good Rule To Learn.

We Need Government And Business To Work Together For The Benefit Of Everyone. It Should No Longer Be Just About Typical "corporate Social Responsibility" Where The "responsibility" Bit Is Usually The Realm Of A Small Team Buried In A Basement Office - Now It Should Be About Every Single Person In A Business Taking Responsibility To Make A Difference In Everything They Do, At Work And In Their Personal Lives.

I Have Always Believed That The Only Way To Cope With A Cash Crisis Is Not To Contract But To Try To Expand Out Of It.

Of Course, A Lot Of Businesses Want To Reach Students, So I Funded The Magazine By Selling Advertising. I Sold Something Like $8,000 Worth Of Advertising For The First Edition, And That Was In 1966. I Printed Up 50,000 Copies, And I Didn't Even Have To Charge For Them On The Newsstand Because My Costs Were Already Covered.

If You Want Milk, Don't Sit On A Stool In The Middle Of A Field In The Hope That A Cow Will Back Up To You.

I Have Always Believed That There Is No Point In Having Regrets As You Learn Far More From Mistakes Than Successes. Embrace A Mistake And Learn From It; Don't Regret Them.

If We Can Just Get Young People To Do The Same As Their Fathers Did, That Is, Wear Condoms

Never Take Your Eyes Off The Cash Flow Because It's The Life Blood Of Business.

And If After All This You Eventually Fail; Don't Take It Personal. Don't Be Ashamed To Start All Over Again.

Past Failures Unlock Future Successes

Communicate Your Passion Clearly, Concisely And With Genuine Conviction.

You Shouldn't Be Looking For People Slipping Up, You Should Be Looking For All The Good Things People Do And Praising Those.

As An Adventurer...i Try To Protect Against The Downside. I Make Sure I Have Covered As Many Eventualities As I Can. In The End, You Have To Take Calculated Risks; Otherwise You're Going To Sit In Mothballs All Day And Do Nothing.

Everyone Needs Something To Aim For. You Can Call It A Challenge, Or You Can Call It A Goal. It Is What Makes Us Human. It Was Challenges That Took Us From Being Cavemen To Reaching For The Stars.

Not Enough People Realize The Satisfaction You Can Get From Really Pushing Yourself To The Limits.

If You Don't Take Risks You Won't Achieve Anything.

To Be A Great Leader, You Must Be A Great Listener

Self Improvement

I Never Wanted To Be A Businessman, I Just Wanted To Change The World

Only A Fool Never Changes His Mind.

You Only Live Once, And I Just Don’t Want To Waste A Minute Of My Life.

You Only Live Once

Companies Need To Have A Lot More Flexibility With Their People... . If Somebody Wants To Golf Around The World For Two Months, Okay, Well, Maybe On An Unpaid Basis, Let Them Do It. That Sort Of Flexibility I Think Is Incredibly Important Because Most Of Our Time, We Spend At Work.

If You're Looking To Become An Entrepreneur Then Don't Waste Your Time Going To University Or Business School - Just Get On And Do It.

Chance Favors The Prepared Mind. The More You Practice, The Luckier You Become.

If You're Hurt, Lick Your Wounds And Get Up Again. If You've Given It Your Absolute Best, It's Time To Move Forward.

Every Risk Is Worth Taking As Long As It's For A Good Cause, And Contributes To A Good Life.

Most People Assume That A Record Shop's Success Lies In Selling Records. In Fact, Virgin's Success Both In Mail Order And The Record Shops Lay In Skill At Buying Records.

I Was Born Under A Lucky Star, And I Have Nothing Whatsoever To Regret. I Wouldn't Change A Thing About My Life.

If You Look After Your Staff, They'll Look After Your Customers. It's That Simple.

Don't Become A Slave To Technology - Manage Your Phone, Don't Let It Manage You.

Allowing My People To Have A Good Work-life Balance By Working Flexibly Is Very Important To Me.

Unless You Dream, Nothing Will Happen. If You Dream, You Might Be Able To Make Your Dreams Come True.

Red Tape Will Often Get In Your Way. It's One Of The Reasons I Often Carry Scissors!

Wine, Like Life, Is Meant To Be Enjoyed.

It Is Only By Being Bold That You Get Anywhere. If You Are A Risk-taker, Then The Art Is To Protect The Downside.

I Was Interested In Creating Things That I Could Be Proud Of And So, You Know, I Was Interested In Being An Editor Of A Magazine, Things That I Could Be Proud Of, And So, You Know, I Was Interested In Being An Editor Of A Magazine, But In Order To Be An Editor Of A Magazine I Had To Become A Publisher As Well. I Had To Pay The Bills. I Had To Worry About The Printing And The Paper Manufacturing And The Distribution Of That Magazine.

Creating Things

I Was Dyslexic, I Had No Understanding Of Schoolwork Whatsoever. I Certainly Would Have Failed Iq Tests. And It Was One Of The Reasons I Left School When I Was 15 Years Old. And If I - If I'm Not Interested In Something, I Don't Grasp It.

A Company Is People … Employees Want To Know… Am I Being Listened To Or Am I A Cog In The Wheel? People Really Need To Feel Wanted.

I Am Impressed With Just The Enthusiasm For Life And The Fact That Some Of These People Are In Their 80's, Even 90's, And They're Absolutely Determined To Get Out There And Make A Difference.

I'd Like To See The Government Back A Programme Of Research Into The Medical Properties Of Cannabis And I Do Not Object To Its Responsible Use As A Recreational Relaxant.

The Companies That Look After Their People Are The Companies That Do Really Well. I'm Sure We'd Like A Few Other Attributes, But That Would Be The Most Important One.

Our Generation Has Inherited An Incredibly Beautiful World From Our Parents And They From Their Parents. It Is In Our Hands Whether Our Children And Their Children Inherit The Same World. We Must Not Be The Generation Responsible For Irreversibly Damaging The Environment.

A Business Is Simply An Idea To Make Other People's Lives Better.

Entrepreneurship Is About Turning What Excites You In Life Into Capital, So That You Can Do More Of It And Move Forward With It.

Good People Have Always Been At The Heart Of The Virgin Business, And That's Largely Because We Have Tried To Keep Our Business Small, And Our Management Teams Tight-knit. I Feel That Small, Compact Companies, Are Better Run. That Is Partly Because People Feel More Connected In Small Companies.

We Don't Actually Plan To Launch New Businesses Over The Next Few Years, But We Are Planning To Take The Ones We Have Into New Territories.

I’ve Always Had A Soft Spot For Dreamers – Not Those Who Waste Their Time Thinking ‘what If’ But The Ones Who Look To The Sky And Say ‘why Can’t I Shoot For The Moon?’

And Obviously, From Our Own Personal Point Of View, The Principal Challenge Is A Personal Challenge.

Engage Your Emotions At Work. Your Instincts And Emotions Are There To Help You.

There Is No Planet B. We Have To Take Care Of The One We Have

Doing Good Is Good For Business.

Whether You Are Launching A Start-up Or Leading An Established Company, You Should Start Establishing Your Social Media Presence If You Haven’t Already.

And In The Process, We Have Come Up With Fuels - Algae-based Fuels, Isobutanol-based Fuels And Other Fuels - That We Think Will Power The Planes In The Future So That, You Know, By 2020 I Hope That Our Planes Will Be Powered On Fuels That Are Clean Fuels And Are Not Polluting The Environment So That We'll Have A Green Airline And An Airline That Actually Has Fuels That Will Be Hopefully Cheaper Than The Dirty Fuels Of The Past. So [we're] Doing Good And Also Turning A Profit At The Same Time.

Once A Changemaker, Always A Changemaker But Only A Few Swim Against The Tide.

The Key Is To Set Realistic Customer Expectations, And Then Not To Just Meet Them, But To Exceed Them - Preferably In Unexpected And Helpful Ways.

Loyal Customers

You Must Have The Courage To Trust Your Instincts And Be Ready To Question What Other People Don't. If You Do That, You Can Seize Opportunities That Others Would Miss. Believe In Yourself, And Use Everything You Can - Including The Obstacles - To Propel You Along The Road To Success. Who Knows What You Might Achieve?

I Just Like To Enjoy Life And Push Myself. Of Course, There Is Method To My Madness. When You Are Entering Into A New Industry, For Example, It Helps To Do Something To Get Your Name On The Front Pages.

It Is Not For Me (to Decide). It Is Up To The Company To Decide Whether The Price Is Fair Or Not.

Brave People Don't Live Forever, But Cautious People Don't Live At All.

Nobody's Ever Called Me Sir Richard. Occasionally In America, I Hear People Saying Sir Richard And Think There's Some Shakespearean Play Taking Place. But Nowhere Else Anyway.

If You Want To Stand Out From The Crowd, Give People A Reason Not To Forget You

Being An Entrepreneur Simply Means Being Someone Who Wants To Make A Difference To Other People's Lives.

Success Cannot Be Measured In Wealth, Fame Or Power, But By Whether You Have Made A Positive Difference For Others.

If You're Lucky Enough To Have A Few Hundred Thousand Dollars In The Bank Account, That Should Be Sufficient For Your Own Personal Needs, And Anything More Than That You've Got To Put To Good Use.

When I Was 15, I Left School To Start A Magazine, And It Became A Success Because I Wouldn't Take No For An Answer. I Remember Banging On James Baldwin's Door To Ask For An Interview When He Came To England. Then I Got Jean-paul Sartre's Home Phone Number And Asked Him To Contribute. If I'd Been 30, He Might Have Said No, But I Was A 15-year-old With Passion And He Was Charmed. Making Money Was Always Just A Side Product Of Having A Good Time And Creating Things Nobody'd Seen Before.

I Am Prepared To Try Anything Once.

Look For The Best In People To Build A Fantastic Team

Self Improvement

Succeeding In Business Is All About Making Connections

Succeeding In Business

Kitesurfing Is One Of The Greatest Sports In The World. I Highly Recommend This To Anyone Who Has Access To The Ocean. There Is Nothing More Freeing Than Being Out There And Kitesurfing. When My Schedule Permits, It's The First Thing I Do In The Morning, Before I Have Breakfast. Tennis Is Also Fun, Especially Against Someone Far Better At The Sport Than I Am.

Some 80% Of Your Life Is Spent Working. You Want To Have Fun At Home; Why Shouldn't You Have Fun At Work?

Lead By Listening - To Be A Good Leader You Have To Be A Great Listener.

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