- He's a businessman, investor, and is involved in
over 400 companies.
He takes on big companies, breaks the rules,
and likes to go after world records.
He's worth an estimated $4.9 billion.
He's Richard Branson.
- And here are his top 10 rules for success.
(swooshing)
- I mean, I am dyslexic
and therefore I think I've been
very good at keeping things simple
because, yeah, as a dyslexic I need things to be simple
for myself, and therefore Virgin, I think,
when we launch a financial service company or a bank
we do not use jargon, everything is very clear cut,
very simple, and I think people have an affinity
to the Virgin brand because we don't talk above them
or talk down to them.
I mean, I think that lots of people do not have the courage
to try to start a business.
And all I would say about it,
I've written the book called Screw It Just Do It,
and it basically is trying to say to people,
just give it a try.
Actually sometimes a very, very small amount of money
is all that's needed to start a company.
My mother found a bracelet on the street
and she handed it in to the police station,
and after three months the police let her sell it
and the couple of hundred dollars was really critical
at a critical time in the development of our business.
So all I say is just give it a go
and good luck with that one.
That I think the most important
thing about running a company
is to remember all the time what a company is.
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,
and that's the critical attribute of a leader.
You know, there is a very thin dividing line between
success and failure when you start a business from scratch
and if you don't have enough money to pay the bills
you go the wrong side of that dividing line,
and if you can somehow get enough money to pay the bills
you stay the right side of that dividing line.
You know, I've always been running, either running faster
than perhaps I should, and I have great difficulty
saying no to things so I keep on taking on new things,
and we've just managed to stay the right side
of the dividing line over the last 50 years of business,
but equally in those early days
when you're starting a business without any financial
backing, it's easy to slip the wrong side,
and, in fact, most entrepreneurs do slip the wrong side
and the important thing is then just pick yourself up
and start again, and if it doesn't work at that time
then keep going until you do succeed,
and not to give up.
I think the next stage is to be a great delegator
and not try and do everything yourself.
Try to find people who are better than you,
all the time try to find people who are better than you
to put you out of business effectively,
so whatever you are spending all your day doing,
try to find someone who's better than you to do that,
to replace you at it, so that you can go off
and think about the next big picture.
You know, an entrepreneur is not a manager.
An entrepreneur is somebody who is great at
conceiving ideas, starting ideas, building ideas,
but then handing over to really good managers
to manage the businesses.
You know, the moment you've got more than one business
you can't be hands on doing everything.
I don't actually think that the stereotype
of a businessperson treading away with people
to get to the top, generally speaking, works.
I think if you treat people well
people will come back for more.
And it's a very small world.
I actually think that the best way of becoming
a successful business leader is dealing with people
fairly and well, and I'd like to think
that's how we run Virgin.
I love learning,
I've never actually thought I was starting a company
as such, I just saw situations as I traveled in life
where I felt I could improve on the way
things that have been done by other people.
So, one of my favorite phrases is screw it let's do it,
and I've used that phrase a lot of times.
And we just love going in and trying to
shake up industries and doing it better
than it's been done before.
Yeah, when we launched Virgin Atlantic 30 years ago
the New York Times did a review, and they did some
market research and they said,
first of all, with a name like Virgin
it's not going to go the whole way.
(everyone laughing)
But secondly, they did market research where it said
only seven percent of people would fly
on a airline called Virgin, and we put our hands up
and said, seven percent would be just fine,
and so we carried on with it,
but there were a lot of skeptics out there
and there always will be lots of skeptics
when you want to start something new.
Everybody will tell you why it's a bad idea,
why you shouldn't do it, why you'll lose everything
you've got, and in the end you just got to at them
and try to prove them wrong, but good luck.
I think the word business,
it becomes a business, but what you're doing is you're
painting a picture, you're trying to
create something to make a difference
in other people's lives, you have a blank canvas
and you're filling in every little bit of that canvas
to get every single little detail right,
and if that canvas sings out at you at the end
and it's a beautiful picture, your business is
going to be successful.
If bits of the canvas are not quite right,
your business may fail.
So if you set out to change people's lives
you've got to get every single little detail right,
you got to make sure that the people that you're
working with 100% believe in what you're trying to do
and you got to make sure that what you're trying to do
is worthwhile spending your time on,
and in the end of the day you want to be sure that
the people's lives you've affected,
you've really bettered it, you've affected them
and benefited them, and if you get all that right
hopefully you'll be able to pay the bills
at the end of the year.
- [Man] I would say the overarching and key thing that
really binds the group together is the idea of
not just playing the game, but changing it for good.
I think Richard embodies the principles better than
anyone I've ever worked with and anybody that I know
because he's very focused on the business,
on starting new businesses,
on making sure that he's got the right people
in the businesses, but also on doing things differently
and really changing the game.
I think that it's the combination of those
that sets him apart as the great entrepreneur
of his generation.
- Thank you guys for watching, I made this video
because Arlene D. asked me to,
so if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me
to profile next, leave it in the comments below
and I'll see what I can do.
I'd also love to know which of Richard Branson's
top 10 rules you like the most.
Leave it in the comments and I'm going to
join in the discussion.
Thank you so much for watching.
- Continue to believe.
- And we'll see you soon.
(laughs)
(swooshing)