Richard's Blog - 2008

Entrepreneurs and leadership

In 2004 I did a programme called The Rebel Billionaire for Fox Television, where I was nice to people and then had to whittle them down to a winner. In one episode, I told a participant we were going to be the first to go over the Victoria Falls in a barrel. Annie Taylor was the first person to conquer the Niagara Falls in Canada, riding the 170-foot drop in an airtight wooden barrel in October 1901. Since then many other daredevils have copied her achievement. But the Victoria Falls in Africa â…

My 2000th Twitter follower

Congratulations to jademayari - my 2000th follower on Twitter. I've signed a Virgin poster and it's on its way to you. Thank you for all your support guys! More updates soon.Follow my Twitter

Innovation - a driver for business

In 1986 I gave an interview to a British music paper. The headline was 'BRANSON'S BOMBSHELL'. I said that we were planning to put every album and single onto a small portable computer box and that the listener would be able to buy it and play any record they wanted, listening through mini-headphones. I said it would revolutionise the music industry – and people believed me. I got frantic phone calls from some major record company bosses pleading with me not to launch such a device. They told m…

Learning from mistakes

In 1971 I made the biggest mistake of my life. It was an event referred to as recently as late 2007 by the Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable in the House of Commons during Virgin Money's bid for the Northern Rock bank. He said, when speaking under UK parliamentary privilege, that I was not a fit person to run a bank. In the UK, thirty-eight and a half years after a lapse in judgement, I was still being pilloried.When I was 19 and running our record mail order service I stumbled on the fact that re…

Special delivery

Good delivery depends upon many things. Two of the most important elements are attention to detail, and good communication. Neither of these essentials is difficult to understand or implement, so, naturally, they're the first things we forget.Don't waste your precious time. Phone calls and emails can eat your day. Don't let them. No one will think less of you for getting to the point. Because there are so many calls to make every day, I generally keep them very brief. And a short note to somebod…

Hearts sink on Virgin Money

We've just experienced a night from hell when Virgin Money was struck by a massive wave from behind – washing one of our life rafts over board, damaging the spinnaker and devastatingly tearing a massive hole in our mainsail. Luckily all of the crew were harnessed in and no one was swept overboard, which is all that matters at the end of the day. We don't know what the next few hours will bring. We are now frantically trying to repair the sails enough to continue.The last two days have felt …

Virgin Money's dreams dashed by monster wave

After approximately 2 days and 4 hours at sea in the face of impossible odds the crew of Virgin Money had to admit defeat on their first attempt to set a new world record for the fastest mono-hull crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. After 2 days that saw the crew and Virgin Money overcome seas of 40ft and gale force winds of between 7 and 9 their dreams were finally dashed when a 'monster wave' took out the spinnaker, washed a ten man life boat overboard and ripped a huge gash in the mainsail.Speaki…

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