Richard Branson

Founder & Chairman of the Virgin Group

Global Entrepreneur, Adventurer and Philanthropist

Richard Branson speaker, keynote speech, virgin

Richard Branson was also ranked in 2007's Time magazine "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World". On 7 December 2007, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon presented Branson with the United Nations Correspondents Association Citizen of the World Award for his support for environmental and humanitarian causes

English

Sir Richard Branson is the founder and president of Virgin Group. Virgin is one of the world’s most recognized and respected brands and has expanded into aviation, hospitality and leisure, telecommunications, financial services, health and wellness, and clean energy through more than 400 companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people in over 30 countries. One of Richard Branson’s newest ventures, Virgin America, was recognized as “Best Domestic Airline” by Travel + Leisure’s “2007 World’s Best” Awards.

In 1970 Richard Branson founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and shortly afterwards opened a record shop in Oxford Street, London. In 1972 he built a recording studio in Oxfordshire where the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded Tubular Bells. In 1977 Richard Branson signed the Sex Pistols and went on to sign many household names from Culture Club to the Rolling Stones, helping to make Virgin Music one of the top six record companies in the world. n December 1999, Richard Branson was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Millennium New Year’s honours list for “services to entrepreneurship.”

In the summer of 2004, Richard Branson launched Virgin Unite as a vehicle to pull together all the resources of the Virgin Group internationally and, most importantly, Virgin’s best asset – its people – to tackle some of the tougher challenges facing the world today. Sir Richard and on-the-ground partners participate in a number of efforts, including the creation of sustainable health clinics in Africa and the fostering of new entrepreneurs through the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in South Africa. In March 2008, Branson hosted an environmental gathering at his private island, Necker Island, in the Caribbean with several prominent entrepreneurs, celebrities, and world leaders. They discussed global warming-related problems facing the world, hoping that the meeting would be a precursor to future discussions regarding similar problems. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, and Larry Page of Google were in attendance

Sir Richard Branson is the author of Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way, Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons in Life and Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur.

Richard Branson keeps his adrenaline level high by setting personal and world record challenges. His record-breaking endeavors include crossing both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in epic hot air balloon voyages and participating in other around-the-world-attempts. Recently, Sir Richard, along with his two children Holly and Sam, attempted to break the world’s record in transatlantic crossing with the Virgin Money Speedboat, a 99 ft super-maxi yacht.

Screw Business as Usual – How to Have Fun, Do Good & Make Money

Business Stripped Bare – Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur

Screw It, Let’s Do It – 14 Lessons on Making It to the Top While Having Fun & Staying Green

Losing My Virginity – How I’ve Survived, Had Fun & Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way

The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership - 2014

While building the Virgin Group over forty years, Richard Branson has never shied away from seemingly outlandish challenges that others (including his own colleagues on several occasions) considered sheer lunacy. He has taken on giants like British Airways and won, and monsters like Coca-Cola and lost.

Now Branson gives an inside look at his strikingly different swashbuckling style of leadership. Learn how fun, family, passion, and the dying art of listening are key components to what his extended family of employees around the world have always dubbed (with a wink) the “Virgin Way.”

This unique perspective comes from a man who dropped out of school at sixteen, suffers from dyslexia, and has never worked for anyone but himself. He may be famous for thinking outside the box—an expression he despises—but Branson asserts that “you’ll never have to think outside the box if you refuse to let anyone build one around you.”

This is a unique book on leadership from someone who readily admits he has never read a book on leadership in his life. So expect the unexpected.

The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership - 2014

Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won't Teach You at Business School- 2012

It’s business school, the Branson way.
Whether you’re interested in starting your own business, improving your leadership skills, or simply looking for inspiration from one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time, Richard Branson has the answers.

Like a Virgin brings together some of his best advice, distilling the experiences and insights that have made him one of the world’s most recognized and respected business leaders.

In his trademark thoughtful and encouraging voice, Branson shares his knowledge like a close friend. He’ll teach you how to be more innovative, how to lead by listening, how to enjoy your work, and much more.

In hindsight, Branson is thankful he never went to business school. Had he conformed to the conventional dos and don’ts of starting a business, would there have been a Virgin Records? A Virgin Atlantic? So many of Branson’s achievements are due to his unyielding deter­mination to break the rules and rewrite them himself. Here’s how he does it.

Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won't Teach You at Business School- 2012

Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way- 2011

"Oh, screw it, let's do it."

That's the philosophy that has allowed Richard Branson, in slightly more than twenty-five years, to spawn so many successful ventures. From the airline business (Virgin Atlantic Airways), to music (Virgin Records and V2), to cola (Virgin Cola), to retail (Virgin Megastores), and nearly a hundred others, ranging from financial services to bridal wear, Branson has a track record second to none.

Losing My Virginity is the unusual, frequently outrageous autobiography of one of the great business geniuses of our time. When Richard Branson started his first business, he and his friends decided that "since we're complete virgins at business, let's call it just that: Virgin." Since then, Branson has written his own "rules" for success, creating a group of companies with a global presence, but no central headquarters, no management hierarchy, and minimal bureaucracy.

Many of Richard Branson's companies--airlines, retailing, and cola are good examples--were started in the face of entrenched competition. The experts said, "Don't do it." But Branson found golden opportunities in markets in which customers have been ripped off or underserved, where confusion reigns, and the competition is complacent.
And in this stressed-out, overworked age, Richard Branson gives us a new model: a dynamic, hardworking, successful entrepreneur who lives life to the fullest. Family, friends, fun, and adventure are equally important as business in Branson's life. Losing My Virginity is a portrait of a productive, sane, balanced life, filled with rich and colorful stories:

Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way- 2011