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)