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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.

-Richard Branson

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Through The Right People

Richard Branson

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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.

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

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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.

I Was Never, Ever Interested In Becoming A Businessman Or An Entrepreneur. If I Was A Businessman, Or Saw Myself As A Businessman, I Would Have Never Gone Into The Airline Business.

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

One Of The Best Bits Of Advice I Can Give Is, Early On, When You're Building A New Business, Try To Find Somebody To Run It On A Day-to-day Basis To Free Yourself Up To Look At The Bigger Picture.

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Kite Surfing Is A Great Way Of Keeping Fit. Kiting Is Great Because You're Bouncing Over The Waves And You're Surfing The Waves. I Do Quite Long Kite Surfs-50 Miles In A Day.

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If You Want To Be A Millionaire, Start With A Billion Dollars And Launch A New Airline.

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What's The Quickest Way To Become A Millionaire? Borrow Fivers Off Everyone You Meet.

We Need A New Way Of Doing Business To Get Out Of The Present Crisis ... Absolute Greed Has Come Close To Bankrupting The World. Thanks To The Crisis That Certain Businesses Have Dumped On Everyone A Lot Of People Are Going To Suffer On A Global Scale. All Of Us Must Learn. It Is All The More Important That Those Business Leaders That Are Left Standing Try To Be A Force For Good.

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Screw The Competition - Focus On Good Customer Service.

Good Customer Service

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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.

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

Impossible Things

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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.

It Is Important In Life To Turn Adversity To Success

Self Improvement

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

One Thing Is Certain In Business, You And Everyone Around You Will Make Mistakes.

We've Always Had A Pretty Competitive And Pretty Ferocious Battle With British Airways... It's Lasted Now About 14 Years, And We're Very Pleased To Have Survived It.

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

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.

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

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

Breaking The Rules And Challenging Convention Is In The Dna Of Every Successful Entrepreneur. Doing Things Differently And Solving Problems With New, Innovative And Fresh Approaches Are The Very Reason Many Start-ups Are Able To Compete And Sometimes Outpace The Established Market Leaders.

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

If You Run A Business, Put On Top Your Employees, Then Your Consumers, And Then Your Shareholders.

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.

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

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.

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!

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

Self Confidence

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

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

Drive, Determination, Passion And Hard Work Are All Free And More Valuable Than A Pot Of Cash.

Loyal Employees In Any Company Create Loyal Customers, Who In Turn Create Happy Shareholders.

Loyal Customers

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.

By Nature I Am Curious About Life, And This Extends To My Business.

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

To Be Successful, You Have To Be Out There, You Have To Hit The Ground Running

Being Successful

The Funny Thing Is People Won't Let Me Pay For Things. I'll Be In A Restaurant And The Manager Will Say, 'oh No, It's On The House.'

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

I've Used The Phoenix Centrifuge To Replicate What The Body's Going To Go Through On The Flight Up. I've Also Done Some Gravity Tests With Zero-g [a Charter-flight Service In Arlington, Va., That Uses Modified Boeing 727s To Simulate Weightlessness], Which Went Great.

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

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

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

When People Screw Up, Give Them A Second Chance.

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

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 Can Be Started With Very Little Money.

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?

To Be A Real Entrepreneur You Always Have To Be Looking Forward. The Moment You Rest On Your Laurels Is The Moment Your Competition Overtakes You.

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.

It Always Pays Off To Focus On Things That Will Make You Feel Proud. Remember This During Every Difficult Decision You Face.

Most Of Our Businesses Do Succeed, But If Something Completely Fails, Then As Long As We Bow Out Gracefully And Pay Off All Our Debts, And Nobody Gets Hurt, Then I Don't Think People Disrespect Virgin For Trying. The Public Appreciates Someone Having A Go; It Appreciates The Attempt. Who's Been A Success In Life Who Hasn't Failed?

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.

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.

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.

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

Self Improvement

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

Listen More Than You Talk. Nobody Learned Anything By Hearing Themselves Speak.

"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."

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.

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

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

The Years I Would Have Spent At University, I Spent Building Student Magazine And Virgin Records. For Me That Was Far More Fun And Satisfying. I Have Treated Everyday As The University Education I Never Had And Think I Learnt More About Business And Life Than I Would Have At University In The Process.

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

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

Publicity Is Absolutely Critical. A Good Pr Story Is Infinitely More Effective Than A Front Page Ad.

The Jet Stream Is A Very Strong Force And Pushing A Balloon Into It Is Like Pushing Up Against A Brick Wall, But Once We Got Into It, We Found That, Remarkably, The Balloon Went Whatever Speed The Wind Went.

As We Drifted To Earth I Sat Up On The Glass Roof Of The Capsule, Watching The Beauty Of The Golden Dawn As It Broke Over The Desert. This Was A Day I Never Thought I'd See And The Rising Sun And Growing Warmth Of The Day Seemed Very Precious. It Made Me Aware That Hard-won Things Are More Valuable Than Those That Come Too Easily. It Reminded Me To Always Enjoy The Moment.

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.

Right Now I'm Just Delighted To Be Alive And To Have Had A Nice Long Bath.

Success Comes From Delegating, Risk-taking And Having A Good Team!

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

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.

There's Nothing Like The Endorphins From Being Fit, And The Incredible Endorphin Rush That Goes With That. It Beats Drugs, Drink, And Almost Anything Else I Know.

Surprisingly, A Large Number Of People Who Fell Out With Their Partners Contacted Us, Saying That They Would Love To Fly On A Virgle Spaceship. But Out Of April Fools' Jokes Come Real Things, And I Wouldn't Be Surprised, Within The Next 50 Years, [if] There Are One-way Trips Heading Out Into Space With People On It. It Would Be Very Exciting.

Business Opportunities Are Like Buses, There's Always Another One Coming.

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.

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

Self Improvement

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

And Ever Since Then [i] Have Set Up Businesses Basically Out Of Frustration. I Mean, I Set Up Virgin Atlantic With One Second-hand 747 Because I Hated The Experience Of Flying On Other People's Airlines. And I Thought, You Know, I Could Try To Create The Kind Of Airline That I'd Like To Fly On. And People Liked It.

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

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.

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.

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.

Quality Brands Never Go Bankrupt.

My General Attitude To Life Is To Enjoy Every Minute Of Every Day. I Never Do Anything With A Feeling Of, 'oh God, I've Got To Do This Today.'

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.

I Believe In Benevolent Dictatorship Provided I Am The Dictator.

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

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

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

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

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.

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).

Whatever Business You Are In, Every Company Can Shoot For The Start In Their Own Way.

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