Screw Business As Usual review 3
- Nov 18, 2011
Our final entrepreneur guest blogger review of Richard Branson's new book Screw Business As Usual...
Like many entrepreneurs I have read Richard Branson’s books, his autobiography Losing My Virginity is my favourite, which I read when I first moved to London. Feeling exhilarated at the time to be living not far from where the Student magazine was launched.
So I jumped at the chance to review his latest book, Screw Business as Usual.
I am often in awe of entrepreneurs, looking to them for inspiration and the motivation to keep moving forward with my own ventures. I am always interested to hear their story about how they got started, how they overcome hurdles that are so often encountered when starting a business but rarely highlighted, and what drives them to keep going above all else.
Overall, Screw Business as Usual certainly inspires but at a much deeper level - with the sense of our people and planet at the core. It starts off by being introduced to what Richard hopes to achieve from the book as well as outlining what he believes is the way forward in business - Capitalism 24,902.
Some of these hopes are that new entrepreneurs will lead the drive for change and businesses will think differently, do things better. The way forward being, ‘that every single business person has the responsibility for taking care of the people and planet that make up our global village, all 24,902 circumferential miles of it’.
Throughout, Richard shares certain stories to explain his vision from his own experiences in driving the Virgin Group towards this change and that of other entrepreneurs who have inspired him.
I enjoyed learning about the many business and individuals that Richard highlights as having contributed to helping the planet through the entrepreneurial approach - Screw Business as Usual. They range from big well known brands in varying industries to smaller companies, giving you an overall view of the many different ways you can contribute and give back to our planet.
From global diseases to endangered animals, environmental issues, peace, just to name a few. Only reading first hand how Richard has orchestrated his own plight for the issues through the Virgin Group in setting up Virgin Unite, The Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship and the Elders do you get the depth of the scale and motivation driving the change.
There are some pretty major issues discussed throughout but these are also lightened in parts by the personal memories that Richard shares. One that I particularly liked that Richard recounts was, that once on Necker Island during one of the early formation meetings of the Elders, he and Peter Gabriel taught Archbishop Desmond Tutu how to swim. The image of the three of the men ‘..all bobbing about in the pool together..’ made me let out loud a giggle.
What I didn’t anticipate was the level of knowledge that you are armed with as you read deeper and deeper into the book of how you can make a difference in an entrepreneurial way, no matter how big or small or what type of industry/type of business. So to say it couldn’t have been more timely for me would be an understatement. About to launch an online business, to be able to give back was always something that we wanted to incorporate into our brand and overall message. There are many inspiring businesses just doing that but we wanted to be different in our approach. Screw Business as Usual has given me a much broader understanding and a different way to think about how we can incorporate this into our business to hopefully frame something unique.
Read the first guest blogger Screw Business As Usual review
Read the second guest blogger Screw Business As Usual review
Renae Smith
