Sir Richard Branson: An Inspiration To All Of Us

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.”
– Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson: One of the Most Influential Leaders

Sir Richard Branson has always been an inspiration to me with his ability to strive for success, fail and continue to rise above the rest. A high school dropout, he was determined to put forth his ideas into business and create a magazine publication called the Student. Ironically, he has always been a student with each new venture and never had any trepidation to dive into a new opportunity. He is a true inspiration to all of us. “It’s easy to give up when things are hard but we have to keep chasing dreams.”

Richard is an influential leader willing to stand up to a challenge, coach and listen to his team, while he takes full responsibility for his actions. He isn’t an engineer or inventor such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg. Yet, Sir Richard Branson predicted a new opportunity in the market to create better customer service with a competitive advantage. Following the launch of his magazine, he created a mail order record company called Virgin to fund the publication. This lead to the Virgin Group that later launched the success of Virgin Records.

Sir Richard Branson realizes the importance of his employees and offers guidance and support to his teams across the globe. He takes pride in his work, but on many occasions he is willing to give up control, as well as sell his businesses. It says a lot about one who is able to delegate for the future success of the company. In fact, Sir Branson is very passionate about music and was very apprehensive about selling Virgin Records. However, this helped him to dedicate the time to create his next venture called Virgin Atlantic. He decided to innovate the transatlantic travel experience with cheaper flights and became the first airline to offer in-flight entertainment. Branson never followed the crowd, but rather became a leader of the pack, as he defied the standards of the industries and believed in his team to guide him onto the next adventure.

Branson is a leader of over 200 companies and continues to enter unchartered waters by hiring professionals and cultivating their talents. “Shape the business around the people. If a flower is watered, it flourishes. If not, it shrivels up and dies.” It’s unfortunate in these tough economic times that companies have put much strain on their employees. They are being overworked and underpaid with limited resources. Today is a significant time to invest in human capital and it’s important for one to take a subjective approach to identify the strengths and weakness to make an effort to empower employees by providing the proper training and resources. On many occasions, Branson has valued his employees’ contributions and allowed them to flourish.  He is focused on empowering his staff to shape the organization, as well as create harmony among the people working for the company. It’s important for more organizations to follow his example to improve cost and time efficiencies, training, customer service, audience engagement and employee morale. Today, many professionals aren’t being valued for their hard efforts. This can lead to a breakdown of productivity in the workforce and poor customer relations. Additionally, many professionals are lacking the skills to remain competitive. It’s important for employers to adhere to new educational policies and procedures, as well as recognize the transferrable skills of others to apply on the job.

Today, Sir Richard Branson is a billionaire and recognized as a well-respected businessman. He has always remained humble and continues to give back to the community. Recently, he launched Virgin HealthMiles, an organization to partner with employers to incentivize their employees to live a healthier way of life. Richard Branson is one to never give up on his dreams no matter how difficult the challenge. He literally shoots for the moon establishing a company called Virgin Galactic to host trips for passengers to become astronauts and gain experience into outer space. He is one entrepreneur that continues to beat the odds and truly amazes others and myself as an influential leader.

Source of Branson’s Quotes: Richard Branson’s (CEO Virgin) management style and CIOs, http://mubbisherahmed.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/richard-bransons-ceo-virgin-management-style-and-cios/(October 24, 2011)

Lessons Learned For Today and the FutureM

Last week, I had a great opportunity to mix and mingle with marketers as we navigated through the world of technology. Digital media will always be about bridging the gap between the real world and the virtual world, while contributing to the overall ROI, and making a true connection with the audience.

The forces came together to kick off the FutureM week of events at the Harvard Faculty Club with the Gravity Summit. It was located at the Harvard campus where the social media platform Facebook was born. The event broke new ground bringing a great group of speakers and attendees from across the country. People showcased their marketing stories using social media showing how big brands have made a few “Friends” and “Followers” along the way. Executives that contributed were from Bing, Mr. Youth, former CNN reporter Rick Sanchez, Audi, CFO of Hootsuite and others. I listened and tweeted away with new tips to share. Here is a link to a list of presentations that might be useful for you.

Respect, Recognition and Reward!

At the Gravity Summit, speaker Doug Clark, GM of Social Media and Customer Engagement for Audi, provided some solid advice to marketers. He shared a story of a woman that was a fan of the Audi TT Quattro sports car. Women are a great demographic for the brand. They made one woman’s wish come true with a car! Doug and his team followed the story of one special lady and listened to her interests and desire to drive the car. The company decided to drive to her door with the Quattro for her to take it for a spin! This is one great example using social media. Audi listened to its influencers and took the right action to create the right opportunity. As Greg Shove, CEO of Halogen Media shared also at the Summit, “Find the most interesting person, or activity that can take on a life of its own on your behalf and watch it grow.”

Stop. Collaborate. Listen to Your Audience.

Matt Britton, CEO of Mr. Youth said, “Friends want to connect with other friends, collaborate and have control of their privacy.” Why is that concept so hard for some companies to understand that same notion online? It’s how we want to connect and relate to each other in the real world so why should communicating online be any different?

As Audi’s Doug Clark presented his approach and I provided my comments:

• Offer a seat at the table - Welcome your audience
• Open doors – Make it easy for one to engage without barriers
• Create a win/win – Make it something rewarding for both parties
• Recognize a need – Determine your customers needs or wants
• Be quick to respond – Learn to take action and be agile
• Learn from audience – Take action based on new insights
• Listen and engage – Keep your ears/eyes alert searching for comments
• See yourself through the eyes of the customer – Put yourself in their shoes
• Be honest and authentic – Say it from the heart, and always be true to yourself and your brand

The Theme at FutureM was MOBILE
“Hi, I’m Human. Remember That?”

"App-tizers" to Choose and Make Real Connections with Customers

It’s not just about calling a friend, but rather a connection to “reaching out and touch someone” with new tools and social media tactics. Yet, so often I keep seeing marketing professionals trying to fit in with the wrong approach. Good examples include QR codes and checking in with Foursquare to check-out. Some disruptive technologies and changes are good, but remember to listen and learn from the natural daily actions, behaviors and what people want.

Chris Mahl, Chief Brand Alchemist of Levelup and SCVNGR, spoke at FutureM’s event and suggested for marketers to recognize, “What are the noticeable behaviors, what does your audience respond to, and make sure to treat your customer as an individual.” People need people, convenience and value – not a quirky gimmick or a link that just drives you to a website with no proper direction. You need to make it personalized to drive impulse and purpose.

John Caron, SVP of Marketing for Modiv Media, noted when marketing mobile, or for marketing anything for that matter, you must remember, “Reach, relevance and recognition.” When creating or defining the attributes of you product and/or service, be sure to consider those three aspects as part of putting together the message. Listen to what your audience seeks and the unique connection to you or your business. Regardless of the new toys we have available to play with today and into tomorrow, we all have strong emotions and there is a difference in how we all want to be treated, recognized and valued as human beings.

Falling On Deaf Ears: Facebook and Google+ Battle It Out

Are Marketer’s @ the Mercy of More Social Media Mediums?

The introduction of Google + has forced Facebook to make some major changes. We will see if both can compete together, or who will eventually rise to the top. It certainly puts pressure on marketers to discover new ways to introduce new content. It’s good to expand one’s knowledge and reach, but not at the expense of the business will suffer or devote resources to the wrong channels. Businesses will be competing for attention of audiences on Facebook and Google+ as they navigate new waters. It’s not about following trends, but finding the RIGHT FIT for you and your audience. It’s about incorporating some fundamental best practices, but at the same time adding the human element to the experience.

“Curse you, Facebook! Just when I think I’ve figured out how to use the features on here, you go and change everything again…arrgghh.” – Comments by Keri Singer’s Facebook Friend

“At least give us the option of having the old feed. I HATE the new layout. Might be moving to Google+.” – Comments by Facebook profile Amanda Lee Brock.

Since its start, Facebook has been offering new options and they are having security issues around profiles. Today’s new launch includes different new options for your “News Feed” and last week was the “Subscribe” feature. As the service expands and competition arises, more companies need to be nimble. Facebook and Google + must constantly better examine their approach. They must give the right guidance to customers and attempt to be more authentic with their communications. Yet, we still find people getting annoyed with Facebook and distrust the changes with other social media services.

Similar to any personal relationship: It’s about listening, learning and building trust online with your audience. Otherwise, there is a chance people could leave you looking for something better.