Dr. Bishop wrote:Pull the Arfa One wrote:
Bear Grylls broke his back falling 16,000ft after his parachute ripped, 18 months later he climbed Everest. Drinks his own piss without gagging. Yeah he stayed in a hotel once when he pretended to sleep over night in a dangerous environment, but he does a lot of inspirational stuff.
Branson because he sticks two fingers up to the way other business men conduct themselves. Extremely down to earth, friendly, and incredibly ambitious. It's people like him that drive the creation of the Concorde and land men on the moon.
Fair enough. I didn't know that Grylls had broke his back but I'd still argue that there are much better explorers and survivalists throughout our history.
Personally I think the way Branson conducts himself in business isn't something to be proud of, but you have a point on his drive towards creation.
Yeah I included him more for his widespread inspiration, rather than as an explorer/survivalist.
overseasTOON wrote:Branson to me has built up a myth.
His Virgin companies are marketed on an impression that they are 'innovative', 'brand challenging' and 'disruptive' to global monopolies but in truth they are mainly already tried and trusted ideas and he has little to do with any of them in the day to day management.
A true story about Virgin Rail was that customers in a survey stated they gave the train company extra leeway over commuter aggravation simply because they thought that Branson was being lied to by the managers and would soon get involved personally and change it for the better.
Its this myth that he's 'fighting for the little guy against revenue hungry global corporation' that gives his ventures public kudos so the majority of his companies are highly profitable initially and fade out. Virgin Cola, Virgin Music, Virgin Vodka...
Recently he's taken the approach of buying a small share (10%-ish) in existing businesses and simply rebranding them 'Virgin' which is hardly innovative or brand challenging.
He does PR well. He does marketing well.
For an entrepreneur he takes very little risk.
I don't think you can call Virgin Galactic non-risky or unambitious.
I get that his personality doesn't strike a chord with everyone, but personally I find the way he runs his businesses refreshing. He treats his employees as people, and has tipped his toe into multiple completely different sectors, whereas most people stick to what they know. Yeah he might not buy or create all of his new ventures from scratch, but only an idiot will. More than anything I appreciate his non-stop ambition and energy. Also his attitude of not caring what people think. A lot of CEOs wouldn't work from a private island and only hire attractive young assistants, wouldn't encourage people to have sex on their company property an wouldn't let their employees take unlimited holidays, because it would come across unprofessional, but he has his methods and he isn't afraid to execute them.