Richard Branson: what to do when it goes wrong
- By Jack Preston -
- Aug 28, 2012
Richard Branson recently handed out some advice to entrepreneur.com about what to do when things don’t go according to plan. Having overcome many disadvantages in his life and business career, there aren’t many people better placed to put things in perspective than the Virgin Group founder.
"Whenever something goes wrong or you find yourself at a disadvantage, often the best way to handle it is to turn a negative into a positive. I learned this early on as I struggled with dyslexia, a learning disability that affects reading comprehension.
"I left school when I was 16 years old partly because of my dyslexia. I couldn't always follow what was going on, so I didn't find the lessons interesting and became distracted. My teachers thought I was just lazy because back then; people didn't understand as much about dyslexia as they do today. On one of my last days at school, the headmaster told me that I would either end up in prison or become a millionaire. That was quite a startling prediction, but in some respects he was right on both counts!
"What was definitely true was that I seemed to think in a different way from my classmates, and had from an early age. Throughout my teenage years I was very focused on trying to set up a business and create something. On leaving school I devoted my energy to turning Student magazine into a nationwide publication and a profitable enterprise."
What do you think of Branson’s outlook? Let us know below…
By Jack Preston. Content Executive. Tweets at @JackPressedOn
