Background Image

...

The War On Drugs Has Gone On For About Forty-five, Fifty Years - And It's Been A Complete Failure. If You Had A Business That Was Failing So Badly, You Would Change Course. And It's Just Incredible That Governments Continue Along The Same Course.

-Richard Branson

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

The War On Drugs

Richard Branson

...

The War On Drugs Has Gone On For About Forty-five, Fifty Years - And It's Been A Complete Failure. If You Had A Business That Was Failing So Badly, You Would Change Course. And It's Just Incredible That Governments Continue Along The Same Course.

Views: 6

Topic

More From Richard Branson

Be Bold, Brave And Not Afraid To Fall On Your Face And Ultimately You Will Succeed

We Believe That Within Five Years, 96 Percent Of British Consumers Will Have Access To The Internet, Whether It Be Through A Personal Computer, A Set-top Box Or A Mobile Phone.

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

If You Get Into Business Solely To Make Money, You Won’t. If You Try To Make A Real Difference, You’ll Find Success.

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

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.

Tough Times Are Inevitable In Life And In Business. But How You Compose Yourself During Those Times Defines Your Spirit And Will Define Your Future.

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.

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 Know Enough To Know That No Man Is An Island.

There Are Millions Of People Out There Who Would Love To Become Astronauts, Who'd Love To Go To Space - They'd Love To Look Back At This Wonderful World From Space. That Will Be The Engine That Will Enable Us Then To Develop Spaceships To Transport People Around The World At Tremendous Speeds In An Environmentally Friendly Way.

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

Clearly In The Eyes Of The Consumer; The Brand Has Not Been Diluted, But We Must Guard Against That Happening At All Costs.

Entrepreneurial

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 Get The Accountants In Before I Start Up A Business. It's Done On Gut Feeling, Especially If I Can See That They Are Taking The Mickey Out Of The Consumer.

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

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

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

If You Get Into Entrepreneurshi P Driven By Profit, You Are A Lot More Likely To Fail. The Entrepreneurs Who Succeed Usually Want To Make A Difference To People’s Lives, Not Just Their Own Bank Balances. The Desire To Change Things For The Better Is The Motivation For Taking Risks And Pursuing Seemingly Impossible Business Ideas.

I Have Always Believed That Personal Relationships Are Vital In Business And That People Should Be Directly Accountable For Their Actions.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 Will Eventually Build Space Science Labs And Hotels, Prodding The Capability For Missions Beyond The Orbit Of The Earth. Our Space-hotel Guests Will Be Able To Take Breath-taking Excursions, Flying A Couple Of Hundred Feet Above The Moon's Surface In Small Two-man Spaceships. In Time, We Will Launch Missions To Mars And Beyond.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

If A Chairman Of A Company Visits Seattle, That Chairman Should Take All The Staff Out In The Evening And Have A Few Drinks Together, Talk Together And Party Together And Not Be Embarrassed About The Staff Seeing The Weaker Side Of You.

I Was Fortunate Enough, After Many Visits To Many Wonderful, Weird People To Come Across Burt Rutan, Who Is A Genius In The Mojave Desert. And Spaceshipone Was Born And Had Three Flights Into Space That Won Something Called The X Prize. And From There, We're Building Spaceshiptwo, Which Is ... A Beautiful Spaceship That Is Very, Very, Very Nearly Completed And Will Be Ready From About Next Christmas Onwards To Start Taking People Into Space.

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

If You Have An Idea That's Going To Make A Big Difference To People's Lives, And Other People Are Not Doing It, You Know, Just Say "screw It," Do It And Get On With It, And Give It A Go.

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.

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.

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.

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

The Truth Is This: The Earth Cannot Provide Enough Food And Fresh Water For 10 Billion People, Never Mind Homes, Never Mind Roads, Hospitals And Schools.

I Am Prepared To Try Anything Once.

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

India Is An Incredibly Vibrant Market, Which Virgin Already, Through Virgin Atlantic, Has The Pleasure Of Working In. I Am Delighted That Virgin Comics Will Not Only Help To Launch The Indian Comic Market And Spin It Into The West, But Will Develop New And Exciting Talent.

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.

You Need Lucky Breaks To Be Successful.

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

To Achieve Consistently Terrific Customer Service, You Must Hire Wonderful People Who Believe In Your Company's Goals, Habitually Do Better Than The Norm And Who Will Love Their Jobs; Make Sure That Their Ideas And Opinions Are Heard And Respected; Then Give Them The Freedom To Help And Solve Problems For Your Customers. Rather Than Providing Rules Or Scripts, You Should Ask Them To Treat The Customer As They Themselves Would Like To Be Treated - Which Is Surely The Highest Standard.

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

I Believe A Good Leader Brings Out The Best In People By Listening To Them, Trusting In Them, Believing In Them, Respecting Them And Letting Them Have A Go.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

You Can't Do A Good Business With A Bad Person. Find The Right People To Work With And You Can't Go Wrong.

Because I Don't See Virgin As A Company But As A Way Of Life And I Fully Enjoy It, I Don't Think I'll Ever Retire.

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.

The Way You Treat Your Employees Is The Way They Will Treat Your Customers

Employee Appreciation

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.

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. More Than Any Other Element, Fun Is The Secret Of Virgin's Success. I Am Aware That The Ideas Of Business As Being Fun And Creative Goes Right Against The Grain Of Convention, And It's Certainly Not How The They Teach It At Some Of Those Business Schools, Where Business Means Hard Grind And Lots Of 'discounted Cash Flows' And Net' Present Values'.

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

Growth Does Not Always Lead A Business To Build On Success. All Too Often It Converts A Highly Successful Business Into A Mediocre Large Business.

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.

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

Overnight Success

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.

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.

The Brands That Will Thrive In The Coming Years Are The Ones That Have A Purpose Beyond Profit.

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.

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?

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

You've Got One Go In Life, So Make The Most Of It.

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

The Most Breathtaking Thing About Being In Space Is Actually Looking Back At The Earth.

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

Bad Experiences

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.

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.

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

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.

Remain Focused On Fulfilling Your Business Mission. Never Allow Adversity Divert Your Attention And Efforts.

One Key To Entrepreneurial Success Is To Get A Great Group Of People Around You Who Believe In Your Idea.

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

I Cannot Remember A Moment In My Life When I Have Not Felt The Love Of My Family. We Were A Family That Would Have Killed For Each Other - And We Still Are.

I Just Think You Need To Spice Up Life Every Now And Then With A Bit Of Adventure And Excitement.

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.

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

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.

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

I've Had To Create Companies That I Believe In 100%. These Are Companies I Feel Will Make A Genuine Difference. Then I Have To Be Willing To Find The Time Myself To Talk About Them, Promote Them And Market Them. I Don't Want To Spend My Life Doing Something That I'm Not Proud Of.

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.

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

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

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.

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

My Mother Always Taught Me Never To Look Back In Regret But To Move On To The Next Thing.

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.

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!

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.

All Of Us Have Just Got To Find That Time To Look After Our Bodies. That Helps Us Make Sure That Our Mind Is Sharp. I Know That When I'm Feeling Great And Really Fit, I Can Get In Three Or Four Hours More Of Really Productive Work.

Productive Work

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.

Throughout My Business Life I Have Always Tried To Keep On Top Of Costs And Protect The Downside Risk As Much Possible. The Virgin Group Has Survived Only Because We Have Always Kept Tight Control Of Our Cash. But, Likewise, I Also Know That Sometimes It Is Essential To Break These Rules And Spend Lavishly.

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

Can You Afford To Ignore China? It's Like Saying You Can Afford To Ignore The Internet. I Don't Think So.

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

Set Impossible Challenges. Then Catch Up With Them.

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

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.

We'll Not Be Sending Anyone Into Space Before It Is Safe And The Vehicle Is Well And Truly Tested.

I Think In Life The Key Thing Is Just To Fight Really Hard To Make Sure Something Survives. If It Looks Like You've Done Everything You Can To Avoid Failure, Just Move Forward, Move On And Learn From It.

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.

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!

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

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

We Had An Electrical Fault About 500 Miles Into The Trip And Lost More Than Half Our Fuel. We Had A Fire On The Roof. And Missed Los Angeles By 3,500 Miles At The End Of The Trip And Ending Up In The Arctic In A Snowstorm.

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

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

One Thing Is Certain In Business: You Will Make Mistakes. When You Are Pushing The Boundaries, Mistakes Are Inevitable-how You React Is Important.

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 Can Get Happiness Through Making A Real Difference In Other People's Lives By Setting Out To Make Other People's Lives Better And Setting Out To Right The Wrongs In The World.

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

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.

You Shouldn’t Blindly Accept A Leader’s Advice. You’ve Got To Question Leaders On Occasion.

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

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

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

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

Self Improvement

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

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

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

I Never Really Felt Secure Until I Was Well Into My 30s, Because Anytime I Had Success, I Would Invest In New Projects.

No Failure Means No Risk, Which Means Nothing New

Spend More Time Smiling Than Frowning And More Time Praising Than Criticizing.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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?"

In The Beginning It Was Just About The Business - Now It's About The Brand.

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.

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."

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.

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

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.

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

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

But The Majority Of Things That One Could Get Stressed About, They?re Not Worth Getting Stressed About.

I'm A Great Believer In Life To Saying Yes And Not Saying No, And Hopefully Making People Smile And Just Having Fun In Life.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Brands Always Mean Something. If You Don't Define What The Brand Means, Your Competitors Will

I'm Sure You Get The Best Out Of People If You Look For The Best In Them. People Don't Need To Be Told When They've Done Something Wrong - They Know It Without Having To Be Told.

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.

So Unlike Having To Convert, You Know, All The Cars' Or All The Lorries' Petrol Stations, Once You've Actually Got The Clean Fuels, It's Relatively Easy To, You Know, Get It To The Airplanes.

The Music Industry Is A Strange Combination Of Having Real And Intangible Assets: Pop Bands Are Brand Names In Themselves, And At A Given Stage In Their Careers Their Name Alone Can Practically Gaurantee Hit Records.

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

I Myself Have Benefited From Many Mentors Throughout My Life.

Talent Comes From Experience And Failure

Self Improvement

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

Many Assume My Business Success Has Brought Me Happiness. But The Way I See It, I Am Successful Because I Am Happy.

Business Success

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.

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

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.

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

Ideally, Since 80 Percent Of Your Life Is Spent Working, You Should Start Your Business Around Something That Is A Passion Of Yours

I Believe In Goals. It's Never A Bad Thing To Have A Dream. If Something Is Really What You Want To Do, Just Do It. Whatever Your Goal.

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.

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.

To Have Created One Of The Most Respected Companies In The World. Not Necessarily The Biggest.

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.

When You Are Starting A Business Or Going Down Any Challenging Endeavor, You Are Bound To Encounter Challenges. You Are Going To Hit Many Roadblocks And Obstacles. These Are Obstacles That Would Make Any Sane Person Want To Throw In The Towel And Quit. If You Want Your Business To Succeed, You Can’t Do That (duh).

There Is No Point In Going Into A Business Unless You Can Make A Radical Difference In Other People’s Lives.

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

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

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 Don't Succeed At First, There's No Need For The F Word (failure). Pick Yourself Up And Try, Try Again.

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

Listen To The Customer's Complaint And Act Fast.

Universities Are Fantastic Places To Gain Knowledge On A Subject, Develop A Personal Network, Explore Your Character And Learn New Techniques To Approach Problems. I Do However Believe That There Is A Strong Argument For Students Who Have An Idea They Are Passionate About To Just Try And Turn It Into A Reality. I Fell Into This Category And I Don't Regret Not Going To University.

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

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.

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

You Only Live Once

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.

Dream Big And You Will Be Presented With The Opportunity To Lead The World On An Incredible Adventure.

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

Being Successful

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

It Is Important In Life To Turn Adversity To Success

Self Improvement

A Business Has To Be Involving, It Has To Be Fun, And It Has To Exercise Your Creative Instincts.

Trending Author

Waylon Jennings

John D. Rockefeller

Augusto Roa Bastos

Austin Grossman

Category