Background Image

...

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.

-Richard Branson

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

People Who Work For

Richard Branson

...

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.

Views: 4

Topic

More From Richard Branson

The Best Way Forward Is To Give More People Everywhere Greater Power To Build Their Own Destinies.

I Do Believe The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get.

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.

The Best Way Of Learning About Anything Is By Doing.

Too Many Companies Want Their Brands To Reflect Some Idealised, Perfected Image Of Themselves. As A Consequence, Their Brands Acquire No Texture, No Character And No Public Trust.

Mentorship Is Key To Unlocking Each Of Our Entrepreneurial Spirits.

Money Is For Making Things Happen.

Please Don’t Get Hung Up On This Question Of Whether You Need To Have Experience In An Industry Before You Launch Your Startup.

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.

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.

One Night, I Was Chatting With A Group Of 16-year-old Girls Over A Few Drinks About A Name For The Record Store ... A Bunch Of Ideas Were Bounced Around, Then, As We Were All New To Business, Someone Suggested Virgin. It Smacked Of New And Fresh And At The Time The Word Was Still Slightly Risqué, So, Thinking It Would Be An Attention-grabber, We Went With It.

It's All About Finding And Hiring People Smarter Than You. Getting Them To Join Your Business. And Giving Them Good Work. Then Getting Out Of Their Way. And Trusting Them. You Have To Get Out Of The Way So You Can Focus On The Bigger Vision. That's Important. And Here's The Main Thing....you Must Make Them See Their Work As A Mission.

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.

I Think That You're Going To Get So Much More Out Of Life If You Just Say Yes At Every Opportunity.

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

The Best Lessons Are Usually Learned From Failure. You Musn'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...the Brave May Not Live Forever, But The Cautious Never Live At All.

I'm Not The Sort Of Person Who Fears Failure.

Don't Wait Till You Are Big Before You Begin Building Your Brand. Build A Brand From Scratch Alongside Your Business.

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.

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.

Grow Internally First. Strengthen Your Bottom Line First Before Considering External Growth.

Past Failures Unlock Future Successes

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

I Think That Marijuana Should Be Legalized. I Think The Only Reason It Isn't Legal Is Because Politicians Who Smoked It When They Were Young Men Or Young Women Just Don't Have The Courage When They Become Politicians To Legalize It.

I Believe In Benevolent Dictatorship Provided I Am The Dictator.

I Just Wanted To Create Things That I Could Be Proud Of. Money Was Just An Evil Byproduct To Pay The Bills At The End Of The Year.

From The First Days Of My Career As An Entrepreneur, I Have Always Used My Own And My Team's Lack Of Experience To Our Advantage. In Fact, At Our First Venture, Student Magazine, We Used Our Newcomer Status To Secure Great Interviews And Generate Publicity - People Were Excited About Our New Project And Wanted To Get Involved. Our Inexperience Fed Our Restless Enthusiasm For Trying New Things, Which Became Part Of Our Core Mission.

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

Failing Can Provide Invaluable Lessons And Making Mistakes And Experiencing Setbacks Is Part Of The Dna Of Every Successful Entrepreneur.

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 Think Entrepreneurship Is Our Natural State--a Big Adult Word That Probably Boils Down To Something Much More Obvious Like Playfulness.

If You Aim Higher Than You Expect, You Could Reach Higher Than You Dreamed.

My Number One Rule In Business, And In Life, Is To Enjoy What You Do. Running A Business Involves Long Hours And Hard Decisions; If You Don't Have The Passion To Keep You Going, Your Business Will More Than Likely Fail. If You Don't Enjoy What You Are Doing, Then You Shouldn't Be Doing It.

It Isn't Effective Or Productive To Force Your Employees To Do Anything. Choice Empowers People And Makes For A More Content Workforce.

I Decided There Must Be Room For Another Airline When I Spent Two Days Trying To Get Through To People Express.

Money Gives You The Freedom To Do With Your Time What You Want To Do With It

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

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

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

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.

It's Worrying To Think More Than Half The World's Population Lacks Internet Access And Therefore Lacks An Equal Opportunity To Improve Their Lives.

Internet Access

It Is The Satisfaction Of Doing It For Yourself And Motivating Others To Work With You In Bringing It About. It Is About The Fun, Innovation, Creativity With The Rewards Being Far Greater Than Purely Financial.

Unless You Dream, You're Not Going To Achieve Anything.

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

To Get The Respect Of People, I Think You've Got To Roll Up Your Sleeves And Lead With Your People. The Absolute Key Is Treating Your People Well. Looking For The Best In Your People. Lots And Lots Of Praise, No Criticism.

A Business Can Be Started With Very Little Money.

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

First Of All, If You're Setting Up A New Company, You Want To Try To Find A Brand That Can Work On A Global Basis.

Learn To Use Your Brain Power. Critical Thinking Is The Key To Creative Problem Solving In Business.

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.

When You Are Making A Decision About How Best To Serve Your Customers, Your Own Experience Is Often A Better Guide Than A More Sophisticated Analysis Of The Market.

Remember The To-do List But Don't Forget The To-be List.

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.

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.

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

Government And Business Must Come Together On The Interlinked Issues Of Conservation, Economic Development And Renewable Energy. There Are Literally Thousands Of Businesses, Many In The Tourism Industry, That Depend On An Intact Marine Environment For Their Long-term Survival.

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

Screw The Competition - Focus On Good Customer Service.

Good Customer Service

If You Are Glass Half Empty Type Of Person, Maybe You Just Haven’t Been Holding The Right Glass

My Very First Venture Was A National Student Magazine To Try To Campaign Against The [vietnam] War. And So I Wanted To Be An Editor. I Wanted To Bring The Magazine Out. And In Order For The Magazine To Survive I Had To Worry About The Printing And The Paper Manufacturing And The Distribution. And, You Know, I Had To Try To, At The End Of The Year, Have More Money Coming In Than Going Out.

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.

The Ability To Bounce Back After A Setback Is The Single Most Important Trait An Entrepreneurial Venture Can Possess.

Entrepreneurial

I Know Enough To Know That No Man Is An Island.

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!

The Quickest Way To Become A Millionaire In The Airline Business Is To Start Out As A Billionaire.

Airline Business

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.

Wine, Like Life, Is Meant To Be Enjoyed.

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

When I Started Virgin From A Basement Flat In West London, I Did Not Set Out To Build A Business Empire. I Set Out To Create Something I Enjoyed That Would Pay The Bills.

When People Screw Up, Give Them A Second Chance.

Protect Your Reputation. Don't Be Afraid Of Making Mistakes.

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

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?’

You Don't Learn To Walk By Following Rules. You Learn By Doing, And By Falling Over.

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

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

And You Know, I've Had Great Fun Turning Quite A Lot Of Different Industries On Their Head And Making Sure Those Industries Will Never Be The Same Again, Because Virgin Went In And Took Them On.

Exploration Is A Wonderful Way To Open Our Eyes To The World, & To Truly See That Impossible Is Just A Word.

I've Never Sued Anybody, Though There Have Been One Or Two Occasions I've Wanted To Strangle One Or Two People.

There's No Other Way To Find Out Whether Or Not You'll Be Successful Other Than Just Doing It

Being Successful

It's Incredible To Get People To Turn Out Right In The Middle Of No Where.

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.

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

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

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

Self Improvement

Virgin, Is How Good You Are With People. If You're - If You're Good With People And You've Got - You Know, And You Really Care, Genuinely Care About People Then I'm Sure We Could Find A Job For You At Virgin. I Think, You Know, That, You Know, That 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.

I'm A Lad Of The '60s. I Started A Magazine To Try And End The Vietnam War, But It Was A Number Of Years Before I Had The Profile, The Financial Resources And The Time To Do More.

A Little Humour Is Good For The Soul - Regardless Of How Old You May Be.

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.

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.

Well, I'm Somebody Who Is Just Living ...living Life, And If I Get Frustrated By Something, Then I Like To Try To Put It Right.

I Am A Great Believer That You Need Passion And Energy To Create A Truly Successful Business.

I Have Had A Lot Of Fun Pushing The Boundaries On My Balloon And Kitesurf Adventures, Breaking Some World Records In The Process, And I Think This Attitude Of Having Fun Whilst Working Hard Is One That Lends Itself Very Well To Successful Entrepreneurship.

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.

I Prefer To Have A Great Time And To Keep My Wits About Me.

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 You Can Run One Business Well, You Can Run Any Business Well.

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

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.

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?

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

We'll Go Into Orbit. We'll Go To The Moon. This Business Has No Limits.

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

Lavish Praise On People And People Will Flourish; Criticize People And They'll Shrivel Up.

Business Is The Force Of Change. Business Is Essential To Solving The Climate Crisis, Because This Is What Business Is Best At: Innovating, Changing, Addressing Risks, Searching For Opportunities. There Is No More Vital Task

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.

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.

What Matters Is Working With A Few Close Friends, People You Respect, Knowing That If Times Did Turn Bad These People Would Hold Together.

I Am Passionate About Many Things But Conserving Our Planet And Its Species Is A High Priority Of Mine.

I Am Constantly Pushing Myself And My Own Expectations And Have Always Found That I've Always Come Out Better For It. Fear Is Human Nature, But Turning Fear Into Opportunity Is What Will Make A Difference. I Would Much Rather Look Back At My Life Saying "i Can't Believe I Did That," Than, "what If I Had Done That?"

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

Money Is Only Interesting For What It Lets You Do And Create.

There Are Quite A Few Things I've Done That Even I Thought Might Have Been One Step Too Far. But If You Are Willing To Make A Fool Of Yourself And Make People Smile, As Long As You Do It With A Sense Of Fun, You Can Get Away With It.

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

The Virgin Brand Is Not A Product Like Coca-cola Or Famous Grouse Whisky. It's An Attitude And A Way Of Life To Many. That Attitude Is About Giving Customers A Better Time And Better Value In A Fun Way That Embraces Life And Seeks To Give The Customers Something New.

Values Cannot Be Speedily Forgotten If It Is Inconvenient Or Commercially Expedient. Values Have To Have Meaning And Longevity; Otherwise They Are Valueless. You Cannot Embrace Innovation Up To A Point Or Only Sometimes. Branding Demands Commitment; Commitment To Continual Re-invention; Striking Cords With People To Stir Their Emotions; And Commitment To Imagination. It Is Easy To Be Cynical About Such Things, Much Harder To Be Successful.

Launching A Business Is Essentially An Adventure In Problem-solving.

Those Who Achieve Great Things Are The Ones Willing To Be Scared But Not Scared Off. If You Dream Big And Take Risks, Impossible Becomes Just A Word.

The Most Important Thing For Entrepreneurs Is Not To Be Put Off By Failure.

Important Things

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

I Love The Freedom Of Movement That My Phone Gives Me. That Has Definitely Transformed My Life.

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

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.

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.

I Never Went Into Business Just To Make Money - But I Found That If I Have Fun, The Money Will Come. I Often Ask Myself, Is My Work Fun And Does It Make Me Happy? I Believe That The Answer To That Is More Important Than Fame Or Fortune. If It Stops Being Fun, I Ask Why? If I Can't Fix It, I Stop Doing It.

An Entrepreneur Is Somebody Who Is Taking Bold Risks, Is Often Doing Things That Have Never Been Done Before, Trying To Do Things Better. And An Adventurer Is Challenging Themselves, Often Doing Things That Have Never Been Done Before, Seeing What They're Capable Of. In Both Cases, You've Got To Protect Against The Downside.

The Brand Is Only As Good As Your Products, So.. If People Have A Good Experience On Virgin Atlantic Or If They Have A Good Experience On Virgin Trains Or.. If They Have A Virgin Mobile Phone And They Can Get Straight Through To Our People And They're Well Looked After And Then They'll Try The Next Product That We Launch.

We Have The Enormous Opportunity In Our Hands To Make A Positive Difference For Business, People, And The Planet.

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.

My Mother Always Taught Me Never To Look Back In Regret But To Move On To The Next Thing. The Amount Of Time People Waste Dwelling On Failures Rather Than Putting That Energy Into Another Project, Always Amazes Me. I Have Fun Running All The Virgin Businesses-so A Setback Is Never A Bad Experience, Just A Learning Curve.

An Exceptional Company Is The One That Gets All The Little Details Right.

Most Entrepreneurs Are Not Doing It For Financial Motives In The First Place. They're Just People Who Love Creating.

Smoking Marijuana, As Long As You Leave The Nicotine Out Of It, Is Certainly No More Damaging Than Having A Drink, And I Suspect Better For You Than Having A Drink.

When We Start A New Venture, We Base It On Hard Research And Analysis. Typically, We Review The Industry And Put Ourselves In Our Customer's Shoes To See What We Could Do Better.

Doing Good Is Good For Business.

All In All, The Internet Is A Force For Good, Providing Young Entrepreneurs With Access To An Incredible Wealth Of Information, Has Changed The Way We See The World And Is Also A Great Source Of Innovation And Entrepreneurial Opportunities.

Young Entrepreneurs

If You Create Something That Makes A Difference In People's Lives, You Are Likely To Become A Business Success As Well

Self Improvement

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

Most Skills Can Be Learned, But It Is Difficult To Train People On Their Personality.

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.

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

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.

Making Money Never Was My Incentive. I Just Want To Fight Big Companies.

I Am Convinced That Companies Should Put Staff First, Customers Second And Shareholders Third - Ultimately That's In The Best Interest Of Customers And Shareholders.

Taking Bold Climate Action Now Has The Potential To Unleash The Full Power Of Business And At The Same Time Lift Millions Of People Out Of Poverty. We're The First Generation To Recognize This And The Last Generation That Will Have This Opportunity.

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.

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

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

Avoid Litigations. They Are Expensive And Consume Loads Of Time But If You Have Got A Good Case And A Better Chance Of Winning; Then Fight It Out.

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

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

Overnight Success

Smiling Can Be A Competitive Advantage. It Makes Everyone Feel Better And Every Situation Brighter.

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

Impossible Things

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

Sometimes The Riskiest Decision You Can Make Is To Do Nothing.

Commitment Is Not Letting People Down. That's Very Important In Life.

The Key To Generating Loyalty And Rising Above The General Noise Seems To Be All About Creating An Authentic Voice.

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

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

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.

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.

My Mother Was Determined To Make Us Independent. When I Was Four Years Old, She Stopped The Car A Few Miles From Our House And Made Me Find My Own Way Home Across The Fields. I Got Hopelessly Lost.

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.

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.

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

We Experiment Endlessly, With New Products, New Methods, New Companies And New Marketing. A Successful Business The Emphasis Is On Experiment And Development, Ideas Are The Lifeblood Of Business.

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.

I May Be A Businessman In That I Set Up And Run Companies For Profit, But When I Try To Plan Ahead And Dream Up New Products And New Companies, I'm An Idealist.

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

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.

If You Follow Your Dreams And Spend Your Life Doing What Brings You Joy, You Are More Likely To Find Success

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."

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.

You Need Lucky Breaks To Be Successful.

Communicate Your Passion Clearly, Concisely And With Genuine Conviction.

People Are No Different From Flowers. If You Water Them, They Flourish. If You Are Not Nice To Them, They Shrivel Up

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.

Having Colleagues Nearby, Whether At The Beach Or In A Crypt, Means The Ideas Are Always Flowing

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

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

Only A Fool Never Changes His Mind.

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

We Went All The Way Down The Himalayan Chain For A Day And A Half. That Was Magnificent, Except The Chinese Told Us They Were Going To Shoot Us Down If We Came Out The Far End. So I Spent A Lot Of My Time Contacting Former Prime Minister Tony Blair Begging Him To Tell The Chinese We Were Coming In This Direction By Mistake And Could He Please Say We Have No Nasty Motives For Flying Into Their Territory.

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.

If You Love What You Do And If You Believe In What You Do, Others Will Share Your Enthusiasm. Passionate People Find Their Way To The Virgin Group, And When They Do, We Snap Them Up And Try To Keep Them Within The Family.

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

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.

Irreverence Ran On Both Sides Of Our Family...my Parents Brought Me Up To Think We Could All Change The World.

Your Brand Or Your Name Is Simply Your Reputation, You Have To Fight In Life To Protect That As It Means Everything. Nothing Is More Important.

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.

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.

Screw It, Let's Do It - Just Get On With It And Do It

Self Improvement

Breaking The Rules And Challenging Convention Is In The Dna Of Every Successful Entrepreneur.

We're Introducing Separate Rooms With Double Beds In All Of Our Planes So People Can Actually Go With Their Partner And Have A Proper Night's Sleep...

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

If You Look For The Best In Your Employees, They'll Flourish. If You Criticize Or Look For The Worst, They'll Shrivel Up. We All Need Lots Of Watering.

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 Also Know, As An Entrepreneur Myself, You Face New Obstacles Every Day And You Need To Have The Perseverance To See Them Through.

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

Trending Author

Mary Tyler Moore

Patrick J. Kennedy

Category