Background Image

...

When I Was 15, I Left School To Start A Magazine, And It Became A Success Because I Wouldn't Take No For An Answer. I Remember Banging On James Baldwin's Door To Ask For An Interview When He Came To England. Then I Got Jean-paul Sartre's Home Phone Number And Asked Him To Contribute. If I'd Been 30, He Might Have Said No, But I Was A 15-year-old With Passion And He Was Charmed. Making Money Was Always Just A Side Product Of Having A Good Time And Creating Things Nobody'd Seen Before.

-Richard Branson

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

When I Was 15,

Richard Branson

...

When I Was 15, I Left School To Start A Magazine, And It Became A Success Because I Wouldn't Take No For An Answer. I Remember Banging On James Baldwin's Door To Ask For An Interview When He Came To England. Then I Got Jean-paul Sartre's Home Phone Number And Asked Him To Contribute. If I'd Been 30, He Might Have Said No, But I Was A 15-year-old With Passion And He Was Charmed. Making Money Was Always Just A Side Product Of Having A Good Time And Creating Things Nobody'd Seen Before.

Views: 5

Topic

More From Richard Branson

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

If You Look After Your Staff, They'll Look After Your Customers. It's That Simple.

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.

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

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.

No Failure Means No Risk, Which Means Nothing New

I Make Up My Mind About Whether I Can Trust Someone Within 60 Seconds Of Meeting Them

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

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

Nobody's Ever Called Me Sir Richard. Occasionally In America, I Hear People Saying Sir Richard And Think There's Some Shakespearean Play Taking Place. But Nowhere Else Anyway.

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

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.

All Successful People - Not Just Entrepreneurs - Have Got Things Wrong Over And Over Again Before Finding The Right Solution.

When People Warn Me Against Doing Something Once My Mind Is Made Up, I Grow Increasingly Determined To Try It.

Quality Brands Never Go Bankrupt.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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

Our Model Is To Develop Each Business Separately With Its Own Shareholder And Management - This Way We Can Concentrate On The Job In Hand, Rather Than Be Part Of Some Enormous And Faceless Conglomerate.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Loyal Customers

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

In Syria, If [bashar Al-] Assad Had Just Been A Statesman And Handed Over The Reigns In Time, Syria Would Not Be Heading Down The Nightmare That It Is Today.

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

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.

Seek Out Strategic Alliances; They Are Essential To Growth And Provide Resistance To Bigger Competition.

I Like To Take Chances On People, And Whenever Possible, Promote From Within - It Sends A Great Message To Everyone In The Company When Someone Demonstrates A Passion For The Job And Leadership Skills At Every Step Along The Way And Is Rewarded With A Leadership Role.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Whether You Are Launching A Start-up Or Leading An Established Company, You Should Start Establishing Your Social Media Presence If You Haven’t Already.

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.

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

Entrepreneurial

Be The Best At What You Do

Self Improvement

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.

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

Making A Difference

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

Finding Yourself

Making The Extra Effort To Say Thanks In A Genuine, Personal Manner Goes A Long Way. It Is Pleasurable To Do, And It Encourages More Of The Same Good Behavior.

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

I Think Great Businessmen Are More Likely Made Than Born. I Don't Know If It's From Your Upbringing, Your Parental Background, The Struggles You Go Through. In My Own Particular Situation, I Left School At 15 And I Was Struggling To Survive In The Jungle And That Was A Great Education. So I Think Just Getting Out There, Hands On, Learning To Survive Teaches You A Lot.

There Is No Planet B. We Have To Take Care Of The One We Have

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.

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.

Good Customer Service Begins At The Top. If Your Senior People Don't Get It, Even The Strongest Links Further Down The Line Can Become Compromised.

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

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.

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

You Don't Have To Be One Of The Elders. You Don't Have To Be Well Known. You Just Have To Be Determined To Care About People. That's All It Takes.

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

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

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

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

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

Overnight Success

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.

I Believe That Today's Businesses - Regardless Of Their Size - Must Be Prepared To Do Good In Societies Around The Globe. I Am Cautiously Optimistic That We Can Make The World A Far Better, Safer And More Equitable Place - But Business And Enterprise Must Sit At The Heart Of This Process.

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!

Whatever You And Your Team Decide Your New Brand Will Stand For, Deliver On That Promise. That's The Only Way You'll Ever Control Your Brand. And Beware: Brands Always Mean Something. If You Don't Define What The Brand Means, Your Competitors Will.

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.

I Can Honestly Say That I Have Never Gone Into Any Business Purely To Make Money. If That Is The Sole Motive Then I Believe You Are Better Off Not Doing It. A Business Has To Be Involving, It Has To Be Fun, And It Has To Exercise Your Creative Instincts.

Good People Have Always Been At The Heart Of The Virgin Business, And That's Largely Because We Have Tried To Keep Our Business Small, And Our Management Teams Tight-knit. I Feel That Small, Compact Companies, Are Better Run. That Is Partly Because People Feel More Connected In Small Companies.

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

Realize That The People Who Are Working With You, This Is Their Life. You Know, 80% Of Their Time Is Spent At Work. Make Sure That They're Proud Of What They're Doing, That They're Enjoying What They're Doing.

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

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."

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

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

I Have Enjoyed Life A Lot More By Saying "yes" Than By Sayings "no".

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

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.

Choose Great People And Shine In Their Shadows

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

Every Business, Like A Painting, Operates According To Its Own Rules. There Are Many Ways To Run A Successful Company. What Works Once May Never Work Again. What Everyone Tells You Never To Do May Just Work, Once.

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

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.

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

Whether We're Fighting Climate Change Or Going To Space, Everything Is Moved Forward By Computers, And We Don't Have Enough People Who Can Code

Past Failures Unlock Future Successes

Succeeding In Business Is All About Making Connections

Succeeding In Business

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

I Learnt From An Early Age This Need To Delegate Responsibility Out To Other Team Members As There Is Just Too Much For One Person To Do Themselves. What Is The Point Of Hiring Talented Team Members If You Don't Give Them The Freedom To Make The Most Of The Chance You Have Given Them?

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?

Screw It, Just Do It!

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

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.

We're Going Where No One Has Gone Before. There's No Model To Follow, Nothing To Copy. That Is What Makes This So Exciting.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

My Biggest Motivation? Just To Keep Challenging Myself

Innovation Happens When People Are Given The Freedom To Ask Questions And The Resources And Power To Find The Answers.

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

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

If You Have Conflicts, Everything Breaks Down In Society. Kids Can't Go To School. Basic Health Can't Be Looked After. Every Aspect Of Society Falls Apart.

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.

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

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.

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

Don’t Just Play The Game – Change It For Good.

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

Train People Well Enough So They Can Leave, Treat Them Well Enough So They Don't Want To.

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

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).

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

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

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

Entrepreneurial

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

I Think It's Important We Continue To Find New Ways For Start-up Businesses To Get Access To Funding, Mentorship And Business Advice.

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.

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

Self Improvement

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

Employee Appreciation

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.

Wine, Like Life, Is Meant To Be Enjoyed.

... Our First Priority Should Be The People Who Work For The Companies, Then The Customers, Then The Shareholders. Because If The Staff Are Motivated Then The Customers Will Be Happy, And The Shareholders Will Then Benefit Through The Company's Success.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

...making Profits Is Important Because It Keeps All Our People In Jobs And, You Know, It Keeps What We - What We've Created Going, But, You Know, What We're - What I Get My - What I'm Proud About Doing Is Creating Companies Which We're Really Proud Of, You Know, Which We Can Really Be Proud Of And A Byproduct Of That Hopefully Will Be That They'll Be Profitable And Be Able To Pay The Bills.

Don't Bother Doing Something Unless You're Radically Different From The Competition.

Everyone Needs Something To Aim For. You Can Call It A Challenge, Or You Can Call It A Goal. It Is What Makes Us Human. It Was Challenges That Took Us From Being Cavemen To Reaching For The Stars.

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.

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

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

Cities In The World

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.

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

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

Listen To The Customer's Complaint And Act Fast.

I Was The Kind Of Entrepreneur That Never Really Felt I Made It. When Mike Olefield's "tubular Bells" [virgin Records' First Release] Sold 8 Or 10 Million Copies, I Suppose, At Age 19, I Could've Possibly Retired On The Money. Instead, I Immediately Pushed The Boat And Took That Risk Again.

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

I Think That Being A Business A Leader That Treads All Over People To Get To The Top Is Actually Not The Way I Think To Become A Successful Business Leader.

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

Self Improvement

If You Take Care Of Your Workers They'll Take Care Of Your Business.

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

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

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

If You Want Milk, Don't Sit On A Stool In The Middle Of A Field In The Hope That A Cow Will Back Up To You.

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.

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.

It's Far More Difficult Being A Small-business Owner Starting A Business Than It Is For Me With Thousands Of People Working For Us And 400 Companies. Building A Business From Scratch Is 24 Hours, 7 Days A Week, Divorces, It's Difficult To Hold Your Family Life Together, It's Bloody Hard Work And Only One Word Really Matters - And That's Surviving.

If You're Looking To Become An Entrepreneur Then Don't Waste Your Time Going To University Or Business School - Just Get On And Do It.

Run Lean; Avoid Unnecessary Expenses.

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

Being Successful

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With All My Employees, I Listen To Them, Trust In Them, Believe In Them, Respect Them And Let Them Have A Go! I Never Believe I Know Better Than They Do And Have Been Fortunate Over The Years To Build Up A Very Strong Management Team Whom I Can Trust And Take Advice From.

I've Been In Africa, And I've Been To Hospitals Of Africa, And They're Not Hospitals, They're Places Where People Go To Die. And Rows And Rows And Rows Of People Just Dying And The Waiting Rooms Of The Hospitals Are Full Of People Waiting To Get Into The Beds Of The People Who Died The Night Before, And They're Dying From Unnecessary Diseases.

I Just Like To Enjoy Life And Push Myself. Of Course, There Is Method To My Madness. When You Are Entering Into A New Industry, For Example, It Helps To Do Something To Get Your Name On The Front Pages.

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.

Luck Is When Determination Meets Opportunity

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.

Once A Changemaker, Always A Changemaker But Only A Few Swim Against The Tide.

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

Trending Author

Sumner Redstone

Category