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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.

-Richard Branson

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What We Are Trying

Richard Branson

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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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

In The Same Way That I Tend To Make Up My Mind About People Within Thirty Seconds Of Meeting Them, I Also Make Up My Mind About Whether A Business Proposal Excites Me Within About Thirty Seconds Of Looking At It. I Rely Far More On Gut Instinct Than Researching Huge Amounts Of Statistics.

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

Impossible Things

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.

I Am Prepared To Try Anything Once.

I Love Eating Meat, But I Love Our Planet Even More. So I Will Join This Campaign And Stop Eating Meat At Least One Day A Week.

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

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

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

Self Improvement

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.

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.'

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

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.

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

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

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

The Bigger The Dream, The Greater The Opportunity

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

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

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

I Love Creating Things, And As An Entrepreneur, I've Taken On Quite A Lot Of Major Corporations And Done Well. Capitalism Is The Only System That Works, But It Has Its Flaws; For One, It Brings Great Wealth To Only A Few People. That Wealth Obviously Brings Extreme Responsibility.

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

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

I Have Never Had An Office That I Work Out Of And Work Has Become Intertwined With My Personal Life.

In Business, As In Life, All That Matters Is That You Do Something Positive.

Meaningful Work

Succeeding In Business Is All About Making Connections

Succeeding In Business

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

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?

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

If You Spot An Opportunity And Are Really Excited By It, Throw Yourself Into It With Everything You've Got.

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?

I'm Sure If Brawn Gp Keep Plying Me With Champagne And Putting Gorgeous Virgin Girls Either Side Of Me, You Never Know!

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

I Am Always Working On The Go.

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

Entrepreneurial

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.

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.

I'm A Great Believer That Saying Yes Is A Lot More Fun Than Saying No.

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!

Perhaps, Therefore, It Is Odd That If There Is Any One Phrase That Is Guaranteed To Set Me Off It's When Someone Says To Me, 'ok, Fine. You're The Boss!' What Irks Me Is That In 90% Of Such Instances What That Person Is Really Saying Is, 'ok, Then, I Don't Agree With You, But I'll Roll Over And Do It Because You're Telling Me To. But If It Doesn't Work Out I'll Be The First To Remind Everyone That It Wasn't My Idea.'

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

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.

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

Screw The Competition - Focus On Good Customer Service.

Good Customer Service

If You Don’t Enjoy It, Don’t Do It. You Must Love What You Do.

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.

Having No Regrets Makes Way For The Best Piece Of Advice I Can Give - Don't Be Afraid Of Failure.

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

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.

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

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!

Well, I Think That There's A Very Thin Dividing Line Between Success And Failure.

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.

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

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.

On Conflicts, Generally Speaking, The World Is A Hell Of A Lot Better To Live In Today Than It Was Thirty Years Ago, Despite What's Going On In Syria. There Are Definitely Hopeful Signs That The World Is Moving, Decade By Decade, In The Right Direction.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Put Your Passions To Work To Make This World A Better Place.

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

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.

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

Success Comes From Listening To Your Customer.

Money Is A Poor Indicator Of Success.

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.

You Can't Run A Business Without Taking Risks. The Brave May Not Live Forever - But The Cautious Do Not Live At All!

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.

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

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.

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

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.

If You Find Yourself Stuck In The Middle There Is Only One Way To Go, Forward.

Finding Yourself

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

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.

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

Be Authentic And Organic. It Can't Be Forced Or It Won't Work. And Most Importantly, Have Fun.

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.

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

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

At The End, Entrepreneurship Is Not About Wearing Expensive Suits And Earning A Lot Of Money. It Is All About Being True To Yourself, To Your Values In Life. Your Dreams.

Luck Is When Determination Meets Opportunity

Past Failures Unlock Future Successes

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.

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.

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

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

If People Aren't Calling You Crazy, You Aren't Thinking Big Enough.

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?"

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

The Best Advice I Ever Received? Simple: Have No Regrets.

Screw It, Just Do It!

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

Set Impossible Challenges. Then Catch Up With Them.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Look For The Best In People To Build A Fantastic Team

Self Improvement

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.

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

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

Business Has To Give People Enriching, Rewarding Lives...or It's Simply Not Worth Doing.

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

Look, I Think That When We Started Virgin Atlantic 30 Years Ago, We Had One 747 Competing With The Airlines That Had An Average Of 300 Planes Each. Every Single One Of Those Have Gone Bankrupt Because They Didn't Have Customer Service. They Had Might, But They Didn't Have Customer Service, So Customer Service Is Everything In The End.

Entrepreneursh Ip Is A Great Leveller, Since Having The Benefit Of A Wealthy Background Or A Generous Investor Isn't Always An Advantage. The Wonderful Thing Is That Money Is Not The Sole Currency When It Comes To Starting A Business; Drive, Determination, Passion And Hard Work Are All Free And More Valuable Than A Pot Of Cash.

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.

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 Real Difference Between Work And Play - It’s All Living.

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

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.

To Stand Still Today Is To Go Backwards...and Quickly...!

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

Entrepreneurial Business Favours The Open Mind. It Favours People Whose Optimism Drives Them To Prepare For Many Possible Futures, Pretty Much Purely For The Joy Of Doing So.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

Space Is Hard - But Worth It. We Will Persevere And Move Forward Together.

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

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

If Family Or Friends Are Unwell Or Ill - It's Perhaps The Only Thing That Really Can Make One Feel Vulnerable.

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.

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.

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

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

Self Improvement

Choose Great People And Shine In Their Shadows

Doing Good Is Good For Business.

I Find It Very Difficult To Think Of Mistakes; Not That I Don't Make Any But Because I Was Brought Up To Look Only At The Good Things In Life ... As For What Lost The Most Money, Probably Virgin Cola. It Is Still No 1 In Bangladesh Though.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

There Isn't A Flight Goes By When I Don't Stare Out Of The Window And Thank My Stars For What I'm Seeing And Feeling.

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

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

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.

I Have Had Fun Running All Of The Virgin Businesses, So I Never See A Setback As A Bad Experience; It Is Just A Learning Curve.

If I'm Setting Up A New Business I'll Spend Three Or Four Months Learning Everything There Is About That Business, Everything There Is About That Subject And Then I Will Find Good People To Run It On A Day-to-day Basis, But Whilst They're Running It At Least I Know What They're Talking About When They Come Back To Me.

I Like Challenges In Life And Pushing Myself Out Of My Comfort Zone.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

To Be Successful, You Have To Be Out There, You Have To Hit The Ground Running, And If You Have A Good Team Around You And More Than A Fair Share Of Luck, You Might Make Something Happen. But You Certainly Can't Guarantee It Just By Following Someone Else's Formula.

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

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.

I Think A Lot Of Becoming An Entrepreneur Is Something Which People Have To Learn Just From Getting Out There And Giving It A Go, And Having To Learn The Art Of Survival.

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.

As Men, We All Have Something To Give. We All Have The Power To Do Our Own Part To Stop The Global Pandemic Of Violence Against Women And Girls. It Is Holding Us All Back.

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

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

For A Successful Entrepreneur It Can Mean Extreme Wealth. But With Extreme Wealth Comes Extreme Responsibility. And The Responsibility For Me Is To Invest In Creating New Businesses, Create Jobs, Employ People, And To Put Money Aside To Tackle Issues Where We Can Make A Difference.

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

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

Internet Access

Only A Fool Never Changes His Mind.

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

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

If You Do Something For Fun And Create The Best Possible Product, Then The Profit Will Come.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Have Passion For What You Do; Believe In Yourself And Your Product And Your Customer; Persevere; Delegate; Listen. Have Fun. Today, I Add: "do Good".

No Failure Means No Risk, Which Means Nothing New

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.

And From, You Know, Small Ideas, Bigger Ideas Emerge. So We're Starting With Suborbital Space Flights And We'll Then Go Into Orbital Space Flights And, You Know, Maybe One Day We'll Send People On A One-way Voyage Into The Depths Of Space As Per The Science Fiction Trips.

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

Business Success

It Is Important To Remember That Life Is Not A Dress Rehearsal And That None Of Us Should Waste Our Time On Doing Things That Don’t Spark Fires Within Us. My Golden Rule For Business And Life Is: We Should All Enjoy What We Do And Do What We Enjoy.

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

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

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

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.

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

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