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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.

-Richard Branson

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I Was Interested In

Richard Branson

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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.

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Creating Things

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If You're Bringing Up Kids, You Just Want To Smother Them With Love And Praise And Enthusiasm. So I Don't Think You Can Mollycoddle Your Kids Too Much Really.

I Will Work Day And Night To Avoid Failure, But If I Can't, I'll Pick Myself Up The Next Day. The Most Important Thing For Entrepreneurs Is Not To Be Put Off By Failure.

Education Doesn't Just Take Place In Stuffy Classrooms And University Buildings, It Can Happen Everywhere, Every Day To Every Person.

Building A Business Is Not Rocket Science, It's About Having A Great Idea And Seeing It Through With Integrity.

I Read A Fair Amount [of Science Fiction], And You Know It Was Certainly Inspirational. I Have To Pinch Myself To Think That We Might Be Able To Make Some Of [what I've Read In Science Fiction Books] Come True.

Be Creative. Innovate Consistently On The Little Things That The Big Companies Ignore. Little Things Often Make Big Differences In Business.

I Drink About 30 Cups Of Tea A Day. I'm A Complete Tea Addict.

When Something Doesn't Go Exactly To Plan, Money Is Tight Or A Business Is Struggling - See It As A Challenge Rather Than A Failure. Look Outside The Box And Try And Find A Solution - You'll Be Surprised How Many Great Opportunities And Possibilities Arise When Things Look Bad. You've Just Got To Open Your Mind And Not Be Afraid Of Sticking Your Neck Out!

I've Been Taught Not To Have Any Regrets. If We Were To Add Up All Of The Hours Spent Regretting Mistakes And Use That Time To Develop New Ideas, Who Knows How Many Brilliant New Businesses Would Be Created.

Your Employees Are Your Company’s Real Competitive Advantage. They’re The Ones Making The Magic Happen-so Long As Their Needs Are Being Met.

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

Happiness Doesn't Come From Making A Fortune And Owning Lots Of Possessions. 'stuff' Doesn't Bring Happiness. Family, Friends, Good Health And The Satisfaction That Comes From Making A Positive Difference Are What Really Matter.

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

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What Can You Do To Make A Difference? And Why Should You Do It? (...) The Scale Of One's Social Investments Doesn't Matter. What Matters Is That You Operate As A Force For Good At Every Scale Available To You.

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Nothing Else Even Comes Close.

Play Fair, Be Prepared For Others To Play Dirty, And Don't Let Them Drag You Into The Mud.

Don't Think What's The Cheapest Way To Do It Or What's The Fastest Way To Do It. Think What's The Most Amazing Way To Do It.

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

You Only Live Once

Screwing Business As Usual Fundamentally Recognises That Doing Good Is Good For Business.

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.

Never To Be Frightened Of Taking Risks And Always Follow Your Instincts!

I Think Bands Will Actually Make More Money Without Record Companies; A Much Bigger Share Of The Money Will Go To The Bands. You Won't Have Record Shops Taking 40 Percent Of The Money. You Won't Have Record Labels Taking 40 Percent Of The Money. So They Don't Have To Sell As Many Albums As They Used To In The Past. So It's Not Necessarily A Bad Thing If Record Companies Disappear.

I Enjoy The Company Of Other People. That's Where I Get Most Of My Satisfaction From

I Moved Into A Nice Houseboat In Little Venice When I Was 15 Years Old. I Found A Girlfriend Called Monday And A Houseboat Called Friday, So I Had The Week Sewn Up.

I Was A Risk-taker As A Young Man, And I Don't Regret It. I'm Not Adventurous In Quite The Same Way Now, But I Still Love The Challenge Of Testing Myself To The Limits, Flying Around The World, Or Seeing If I Can Be The First To Fly A Balloon Across The Atlantic, Or Trying To Take People Into Space At An Affordable Price In An Environmentally Friendly Way. I'll Be Going Into Space With Three Generations Of My Family!

A Company's Employees Are Its Greatest Asset And Your People Are Your Product

Your Brand Name Is Only As Good As Your Reputation

Starting A Business Is A Huge Amount Of Hard Work... You Had Better Enjoy It.

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

Coming Up With The Bucket List Is The Easy Part, But Ticking Off The List Is The Challenge. I Love A Good Challenge, Which Is Why I Strongly Advise Everyone To Come Up With A Bucket List. It Doesn't Have To Contain Out Of This World Tasks. But Once You Have Written Down The List, Screw It, Just Do It!

As People's Access To The Internet Grows We're Seeing The Sharing Economy Boom - I Think Our Obsession With Ownership Is At A Tipping Point And The Sharing Economy Is Part Of The Antidote For That.

I Want Virgin To Be As Well-known Around The World As Coca-cola.

Through The Right People Focusing On The Right Things, We Can, In Time, Get On Top Of A Lot If Not Most Of The Problems Of This World. And That's What A Number Of Us Are Trying To Do.

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.

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.

Every Success Story Is A Tale Of Constant Adaption, Revision And Change. A Company That Stands Still Will Soon Be Forgotten. Trying To Provoke Positive Change Is A Principle We've Embedded Across The Virgin Family For More Than Four Decades.

It's Never Easy To Set Up Any Business, But It Comes Back To Determination And Drive And The Love Of What You Do!

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.

When People Are Placed In Positions Slightly Above What They Expect, They Are Apt To Excel.

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

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.

Learn From Failure. If You Are An Entrepreneur And Your First Venture Wasn't A Success, Welcome To The Club.

Everything In Your Business Can Be Outsourced... If You're Not Emotionally Attached To Doing It All.

I Believe That Drudgery And Clock-watching Are A Terrible Betrayal Of That Universal, Inborn Entrepreneurial Spirit.

What We Are Trying To Do At Virgin Is Not To Have One Enormous Company In One Sector Under One Banner, But To Have Two Hundred Or Even Three Hundred Separate Companies. Each Company Can Stand On Its Own Feet And, In That Way, Although We've Got A Brand That Links Them, If We Were To Have Another Tragedy Such As That Of 11 September - Which Hurt The Airline Industry - It Would Not Bring The Whole Group Crashing Down.

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

Bakers Bake Bread, Accountants Manage Accounts And Entrepreneurs Turn Ideas Into Reality.

One Day Offices Will Be A Thing Of The Past

Branding Is Everything. A Young Girl Once Came Up To Me And Told Me I Could Be Famous Because I Looked Just Like Richard Branson!

Please Be Polite. Nothing In Life Should Erode The Habit Of Saying Thank You To People Or Praising Them.

I Have Learnt So Much Over My 40 Years Of Business Which Would Have Been Valuable To Me When I Was Younger.

Perhaps My Early Problems With Dyslexia Made Me More Intuitive: When Someone Sends Me A Written Proposal, Rather Than Dwelling On Detailed Facts And Figures I Find That My Imagination Grasps And Expands On What I Read.

I'm Hopeful That After Iraq, Those In Charge Will Think Twice About Taking Us Down That Route Again.

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.

Your Company Should Act As A Springboard For Ambitious Employees, Not A Set Of Shackles.

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.

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.

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.

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

I Was Trouble - And Always In Trouble. Aged Eight I Still Couldn't Read. In Fact, I Was Dyslexic And Short-sighted. Despite Sitting At The Front Of The Class, I Couldn't Read The Blackboard. Only After A Couple Of Terms Did Anyone Think To Have My Eyes Tested. Even When I Could See, The Letters And Numbers Made No Sense At All.

Running A Business Is Making A Difference In People's Lives

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

My Definition Of Success? The More You Are Actively And Practically Engaged, The More Successful You Will Feel.

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.

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

The Entrepreneurs Who Succeed Usually Want To Make A Difference To People’s Lives, Not Just Their Own Bank Balances.

Sometimes Miracles Come In Pairs.

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.

We Will Be Producing Supersonic Planes Which Will Go Far, Far Faster Than Concordes. New York To Tokyo Could Be Less Than An Hour. You Could Be Traveling At 19,000 Miles An Hour Orbitally.

My Philosophy Is That If I Have Any Money I Invest It In New Ventures And Not Have It Sitting Around.

We Should All Seek To Innovate, Or Be Curious About Innovation. Innovation Truly Is One Of Our Greatest Gifts.

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.

Happiness Is The Secret Ingredient For Successful Businesses. If You Have A Happy Company It Will Be Invincible.

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

First And Foremost, Any Business Proposal I Like Must Sound Fun.

There Are No Quick Wins In Business - It Takes Years To Become An Overnight Success.

Overnight Success

We Have A Business That Some People Feel Pollutes, And I Happen To Agree With Them. ... And So On The Basis Of Trying To Do Good And, You Know, Hopefully Turn A Profit, What We Did Was We Pledged That We'd Put All The Profits From Our Airline Business Into Trying To Develop Clean Fuels.

Airline Business

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.

There Is No Real Difference Between Work And Play - It’s All Living.

Life Can Seem Rather Unreal At Times. Alive And Well And Loving One Day. No Longer There The Next.

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.

It's Better To Say Nothing Than Spend 1,000 Words Or An Hour Speech Saying Nothing. Get To The Point.

Throwing Yourself Into A Job You Enjoy Is One Of The Life's Greatest Pleasures!

Every Success Story Is A Tale Of Constant Adaption, Revision And Change.

Give Your Employees A Mission That Matches Their Ambitions. When You Challenge People, They Surprise You.

You See, It's Essential That One Of Us Stays Awake During The Flight [ballon]. So, Rather Than Using The Comfortable Virgin Seats Which We Used To Cross The Atlantic, We've Asked British Airways For Two Of Theirs.

Everybody Has A Camera On Their Phone These Days, Everybody Wants A Selfie Or A Picture, And The Moment One Person Starts Taking A Picture Everybody Congregates Around So I've Become Quite A Fast Walker. I Don't Like Saying, "no," To People But By Walking Fast One Might Be Able To Avoid The First Photo.

I Have Always Looked On My Businesses Not Just As Money-making Machines, But As Adventures That Can, I Hope, Make People Better Off.

London Is One Of The Most Exciting Cities In The World With So Many Fantastic Pubs And Restaurants. I Would Urge People To Get Out There And See As Much As Possible.

Cities In The World

So I Became A Publisher By Mistake - Well, Not Quite By Mistake, Because I Wanted To Be An Editor But I Had To Make Sure The Magazine Would Survive. The Point Is This: Most Businesses Fail, So If You're Going To Succeed, It Has To Be About More Than Making Money.

Colleagues Should Take Care Of Each Other, Have Fun, Celebrate Success, Learn By Failure, Look For Reasons To Praise Not To Criticize, Communicate Freely And Respect Each Other.

When You're First Thinking Through An Idea, It's Important Not To Get Bogged Down In Complexity. Thinking Simply And Clearly Is Hard To Do.

The Best Way Of Learning About Anything Is By Doing.

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."

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

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.

If You Can Run One Company, You Can Run Another. Running Companies Are About Inspiring And Driving The Best Out Of People.

Two Heads Are Definitely Better Than One And By Sourcing Ideas From Each Other, You Have A Better Chance Of Coming Up With A Strategy That Will Allow Your Business To Overcome A Setback Or Challenge.

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.

I Never Went Into Business To Make Money, But I Have Found That If I Have Fun, The Money Will Come.

There Have Been Times When I Could Have Succumbed To Some Form Of Bribe, Or Could Have Had My Way By Offering One. But Ever Since That Night In Dover Prison I Have Never Been Tempted To Break My Vow.. My Parents Always Drummed Into Me That All You Have Life Is Your Reputation: You May Be Very Rich, But If You Lose Your Good Name You'll Never Be Happy.

I Just Kind Of Dive In If I Think I Can Create Something That Will Make A Difference And Then Try To Get The Numbers To Stack Up After The Event. So Most Of The Things I've Done I Would Not Have Done If I'd Have Asked The Accountants To Look At Them Before.

Any Successful Entrepreneur Knows That Time Is More Valuable Than Money Itself.

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

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

Screw It, Just Do It!

People Who Work For Me Are Working For What I Believe In. The Leaders Who Run Our Companies Do So On The Basis Of Those Who Came First And Who Said, "a Company Is Its People." I Hope My Companies Are Run On The Basis Of Praising Their Workers And Looking For The Best In Them, Not Criticizing Them. In The Same Way That You Water A Plant And It Sprouts Leaves, People Flourish When You Praise Them.

I Have Always Been A Huge Believer In The Inestimable Value Good Mentoring Can Contribute To Any Nascent Business

Dream Big By Setting Yourself Seemingly Impossible Challenges. You Then Have To Catch Up With Them.

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

Virgin Could Never Have Grown Into The Group Of More Than 200 Companies It Is Now, Were It Not For A Steady Stream Of Intrapreneurs Who Looked For And Developed Opportunities, Often Leading Efforts That Went Against The Grain.

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.

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

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

There Is No Point In Starting Your Own Business Unless You Do It Out Of A Sense Of Frustration.

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

Entrepreneursh Ip Is Not About Getting One Over On The Customer. It’s Not About Working On Your Own. It’s Not About Looking Out For Number One. It’s Not Necessarily About Making A Lot Of Money. It Is Absolutely Not About Letting Work Take Over Your Life. On The Contrary, It’s About Turning What Excites You In Life Into Capital, So That You Can Do More Of It And Move Forward With It.

Communication: The Thing Humans Forgot When We Invented Words.

However Small A Company, Its Founders Should Try To Expand People's Opportunities And Choices.

We Should Focus On What People Get Done, Not On How Many Hours Or Days Worked. Just As We Don't Have A Nine-to-five Policy, We Don't Need A Vacation Policy.

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.

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

I Always Tell Other People To Protect Against The Downside, And Not Risk Roughing On New Ventures, But I Never Stuck To That Rule Myself.

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?

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

It's Clear That It Is In The Best Interest Of Business To Be Part Of The Conservation, Along With Governments And Civil Society.

Don't Hesitate To Seek External Help Or Advice Where Need Be. Sometimes, It Takes An External, Emotionally Unattached Individual To Detect Your Business Flaws And Render Unbiased Advice.

Life Is A Series Of Ups And Clowns. Make It Worth Your Wild!

When You Are Ready To Make Your First Hires, Look For People Who Understand Your Passion, Want To Add To Your Ideas And Can Envision Ways To Make Improvements.

The Important Thing Is That You've Got A Strong Foundation Before You Start To Try To Save The World Or Help Other People.

Have Fun, Work Hard And Money Will Come. Don't Waste Time - Grab Your Chances. Have A Positive Outlook On Life. When It's Not Fun, Move On.

Every Single Astronaut Who Has Come Back From Space Comes Back Determined To Do More To Protect It.

You're Offering A Great Service. People Are Tuning In. So Continue To Find Great People, Continue To Do What You're Doing. And Do It Better Than Your Rivals. I Know That's Easier Said Than Done.

Those People Who Spend Their Time Working On Things They Love Are Usually The Ones Enjoying Life The Most. They Are Also The Ones Who Dared To Take A Risk And Chase Their Dreams.

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.

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.

Whether We're Fighting Climate Change Or Going To Space, Everything Is Moved Forward By Computers, And We Don't Have Enough People Who Can Code. Teaching Young People To Code Early On Can Help Build Skills And Confidence And Energize The Classroom With Learning-by-doing Opportunities. I Learned How To Fly A Hot Air Balloon When I Was 30,000 Feet Up And My Life Was In The Balance: You Can Learn Skills At Any Age But Why Wait When We Can Teach Everyone To Code Now!

A Business Can Be Started With Very Little Money.

Build Your Own Business Team. Survival In Business Requires A Synergy Of Skills.

With Space Travel, [it's] No Different. You Know, In 1990 I Read The Name Virgin Galactic Airways. Loved The Name. And Set Out To Try To Find An Engineer Or Rocket Scientist In The World Who Could Build A Safe, Reusable Rocket That Could Take People To And From Space And We Could Start A Whole New Era Of Commercial Space Travel.

A Setback Is Never A Bad Experience, Just Another One Of Life’s Lessons.

Bad Experiences

Success Comes From Listening To Your Customer.

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. In This Sense, 'who You Know' Is Undoubtedly Important, But To Me 'what You Know' Is More Important Because Once An Opportunity Shows Itself, It Is Up To You To Make The Most Of It, And This Is Down To Your Knowledge And Skill.

If Something Can't Be Explained On The Back Of An Envelope, It's Rubbish.

With The Casino And The Beds, Our Passengers Will Have At Least Two Ways To Get Lucky On One Of Our Flights.

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.

There Is No Such Thing As A Boring Person: Everyone Has Stories And Insights Worth Sharing. While On The Road, We Let Our Phones Or Laptops Take Up Our Attention. By Doing That, We Might Miss Out On The Chance To Learn And Absorb Ideas And Inspiration From An Unexpected Source: Our Fellow Travelers.

The Risk Is Worth It. Mike Would Have Been The First To Say That.

Learn To Raise Capital By Any Means Necessary. That's Your Primary Job As An Entrepreneur. You Must Continually Raise Capital From Family And Friends, Banks, Suppliers, Customers And Investors.

I Just Love Life. I Mean, You Know, I Love Every Second Of It. I Love People.

Global Warming Is Another Big Area That We Need To Get On Top Of. And Diseases In Africa, Which We're Also Working On And Seeing If We Can Make A Difference On. And There Are Lots Of Issues That Governments Seem To Be Blind About.

Listen To The Customer's Complaint And Act Fast.

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.

By Working Hard, By Making The Right Moves, You Can Create Your Own Luck, I Think. But Certainly Luck Plays A Part.

What Does The Name Virgin Mean? We Are A Company That Likes To Take On The Giants. In Too Many Businesses, These Giants Have Had Things Their Own Way. We Are Going To Have Fun Competing With Them.

When Employees Tell You About Their Good Ideas For The Business, Don't Limit Your Response To Asking Questions, Taking Notes And Following Up. If You Can, Ask Those People To Lead Their Projects And Take Responsibility For Them. From Those Experiences, They Will Then Have Built The Confidence To Take On More And You Can Take A Further Step Back.

Asking Questions

A Good Idea For A New Business Tends Not To Occur In Isolation, And Often The Window Of Opportunity Is Very Small. So Speed Is Of The Essence.

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.

A Successful Business Must Have A Sound Knowledge Of Its Market And Work On How Its Product Or Service Will Be Different, Stand Out And Improve People's Lives. If You Can Ensure It Responds To A Real Need In The Market Place, Your Business Can Punch Well Above Its Weight.

I Had No Plans To Be An Entrepreneur. I Just Wanted To Be A Journalist And Write For A Magazine. At 15, I Just Decided To Leave School And Launch A National Student Magazine.

Life Is A Helluva Lot More Fun If You Say Yes Rather Than No

Fun Is One Of The Most Important - And Underrated - Ingredients In Any Successful Venture. If You're Not Having Fun, Then It's Probably Time To Call It Quits And Try Something Else.

If People Are Jumping Down People's Throats All The Time, In The End, They'll Just Shrivel Up Like A Flower Shrivels Up That's Not Watered.

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.

I Am A Great Believer That You Need Passion And Energy To Create A Truly Successful Business. Remember Many New Businesses Do Not Make It And Running A Business Will Be A Tough Experience, Involving Long Hours And Many Hard Decisions - It Helps To Have That Passion To Keep You Going.

When I Started Virgin From A Basement In West London, There Was No Great Plan Or Strategy. I Didn't Set Out To Build A Business Empire ... For Me, Building A Business Is All About Doing Something To Be Proud Of, Bringing Talented People Together And Creating Something That's Going To Make A Real Difference To Other People's Lives.

There's No Better Satisfaction Than Watching The People Around You, Who Have Worked Day And Night To Get Something Right, Realising The Dream.

I Have Always Lived My Life By Making Lists: Lists Of People To Call, Lists Of Ideas, Lists Of Companies To Set Up, Lists Of People Who Can Make Things Happen. Each Day I Work Through These Lists, And That Sequence Of Calls Propels Me Forward.

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

To Launch A Business Means Successfully Solving Problems. Solving Problems Means Listening.

I Don't Think So, In That Virgin Is Already A Global Brand. Brands Like Amazon Have Had To Spend Hundreds Of Millions Of Pounds You Know, Building Their Brands, Whereas Virgin Is Already Well-known Around The World.

The Time To Go Into A New Business Is When It’s Badly Run By Others.

The Best Advice I Could Give Anyone Is To Spend Your Time Working On Whatever You Are Passionate About In Life.

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

Fun Is At The Core Of The Way I Like To Do Business And It Has Been Key To Everything I've Done From The Outset.

Talent Comes From Experience And Failure

Self Improvement

I Am Always Working On The Go.

Flowers Flourish When They're Watered, And Shrivel Up When They're Not. People Are No Different. The Best Leaders Are The Ones Who Look For The Best In People.

Take The Competition Seriously, But Not Yourself.

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 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.

Conflicts Often Stem From A Couple Of Leaders On Both Sides That Are Badly Brought Up. They'd Rather Go To War Than Compromise. And In Business, You're Competing With Other Companies All The Time, But You Don't End Up Going To War With Each Other.

I've Taken Many Knocks Over The Years But It Has Only Made Me Stronger And More Determined To Succeed.

Determined To Succeed

If You Run Your Business Fairly; If You Treat People Well; If You Try To Move Your Business Into Areas That Are Making A Real Positive Difference To Other Peoples Lives; I Think You'll A. Have Much Pleasant Life, But B. I Think You'll Have A Much More Successful Business.

Money Is For Making Things Happen.

Dreaming Is One Of Humanity’s Greatest Gifts; It Champions Aspiration, Spurs Innovation, Leads To Change, And Propels The World Forward.

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

About 40 Percent Of My Time Is Spent On Social Issues And Building New Organizations, More For The Benefit Of The Climate Or Health Issues.

For A Successful Entrepreneur It Can Mean Extreme Wealth. But With Extreme Wealth Comes Extreme Responsibility.

Learning And Leadership Go Together. Too Much Credit Goes To Me For What We Have Achieved At Virgin But The Successes Happen From Working And Learning With Some Of The World's Most Inspiring And Inspired People.

Learn To Look After Your Staff First And The Rest Will Follow

Space Travel Will Be Like Every Other Business. There Will Be Competitors. . . . Thirty Months From Now, I'm Confident We'll Be Flying People Into Space.

I Think I've Learned That If You Have A House, You End Up Living In The Kitchen, So If You Have One Big Kitchen And Then Enough Bedrooms For Your Family, That's About All You Need For A Home.

Just Start. You Will Learn So Many Lessons Just By Doing.

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

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 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."

When I Was Young, Every Time I Criticized Someone, My Mother Would Stand Me In Front Of The Mirror And Say: 'the Flaws You See In Others Are Actually A Reflection Of Yourself.' That Taught Me To Pay Close Attention When I Looked At Others.

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

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

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Carolina Herrera

Lucas Papademos

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