Still learning with Virgin
- Nov 26, 2008
In response to Richard's post on Learning From Mistakes, I'm really glad that Richard believes that blame and recriminations are pointless, otherwise I think I would have been bollocked several times over!!!
People often ask me what's it like to do my job, be in charge of the world's most exciting brand, and my usual reply is that (a) I'm not in charge – I don't think anyone ever could be in charge of this commonwealth of entrepreneurs and (b) I don't have all the answers and I'm still learning, all day, every day.
Hopefully it's this kind of attitude that makes Virgin a bit more of a human kind of brand. I've been in Virgin since I was 22 and so I've grown up in the company – all the embarrassing moments on the dancefloor, all the over-honest conversations at 2am, all the dodgy love life choices, any professional cock up or weakness I've learned from over the years, have all been played out here in this dysfunctional little family.
I think what I like most about Virgin is that you can be yourself completely; and this in turn allows you to grow and mature faster in business as your entire focus is on the work you're doing and you're not having to navigate through traditional politics or expend energy on sanitizing yourself. I think a lot of companies could benefit from being a lot more laissez faire and not taking themselves too seriously – my advice would be to just try it, you might be surprised how much more you get out of your people!
