Branson - Screw Business As Usual

Table of Contents

The Autobiography

Lessons in Life and Business

Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur

A Personal History of Aviation

This book is dedicated to my children, Holly and Sam, and their children who will hopefully see that we did the right thing and made sure that we screwed business as usual to protect this beautiful world we live in to ensure that everyone in our global village has the chance to live the wonderful life they deserve.

Just by buying this book youve already made a difference as 100 per cent of my royalties are going to our not for profit foundation, Virgin Unite, to support entrepreneurial initiatives on the front lines.

Thanks for helping to spread the word and join us in screwing business as usual.

To get involved, join in at:

virginunite.com/screwbusinessasusual

@virginunite #sbau

Facebook.com/VirginUnite

On the night of 22nd August 2011, this book was complete. I had written the last words to the Epilogue. Hurricane Irene - at that point still only a tropical storm - was raging, but we have lived through many big storms, so it was life as normal.

After a big family party in our beautiful home on Necker Island with our guests, Kate Winslet and her party, we all retired to bed. My mother, Eve and my daughter Holly and my nephews and nieces were sleeping in the great house, and even though there was room for twenty people, it was full, so with my wife Joan and son Sam we battled the storm and saw the island illuminated by great flashes of lightning and headed a short distance up the hill.

I admit it: I had drunk a lot of wine, so I was a bit confused when I heard explosions and Sam shouting, Fire! Fire! At the great house, and then he was running like a deer, leaping barefoot through thick cactus plants to reach the great house. To my horror, the orange glow of a massive fire was reflected off the rain, flames were sweeping hundreds of feet into the night sky, urged on by the high winds. Naked, as I was, I raced out after Sam and ran straight into a cactus bush. It hurt, but I barely felt it.

Through the fire and the smoke, people emerged. Kate Winslet, carrying my mother down the stairs, followed by Kates two children, and Holly, all sooty-faced with her cousins. One by one, my family and guests emerged into the wind and the rain. What began as a complete nightmare turned into utter relief as we realised everyone was safe.

The lightning we had seen the night before had been the cause of the fire when it struck the Balinese roof. Sam was in tears, hugging everyone. For minutes we both thought we had lost our family and the relief of finding them sooty, but safe, overwhelmed him. Holly called the manager - who was in another part of the island. The Bransons are renowned for their practical jokes and at first he didnt believe her. (The last words our manager had said to our deputy manager on leaving the island the day before had been, Dont burn the house down.) When he came, instantly he and the staff swung into action, fighting the flames, so they wouldnt spread further through the undergrowth.

The rest of us huddled together in my outhouse watching the 90mph winds fan the massive flames that completely ignored the torrential rain. Its at moments like these one realises how unimportant stuff is. All our family and friends had survived. They had lost all their possessions and were standing in their underwear and bare feet. That house represented so many years of memories for me and my family. The children had grown up there, Joan and I had welcomed friends; we had had some amazing times. I could almost see my father, Ted, who had died recently, leaning back in one of the comfortable rattan chairs in the great room, sipping wine and laughing at a joke. Everything was still so fresh in all our minds and yet no fire can take away the memories or the wonderful projects that have been conceived there.

Come on, I rallied everyone the next morning. Lets have breakfast and we can talk about the new house well build. We all pitched in with ideas for the new house that, like a phoenix, would rise from the ashes of the old one. It would be more innovative, more beautiful, even more inspiring. We would have many more memorable times and some great parties. Joan and I had married on Necker and Holly and her lucky (!) fiance, Fred Andrews, would also be married on this magical island in December on the exact spot we had - even if it had to be on the ashes of the old house.

I hope new generations of our family will come to know and love a new great house as much as we have. The future is still ours to hold and share.

Richard Branson

September 2011

Over the last few decades as Ive started up one exciting business after another, I have often thought that life and work could not get any better. In writing this book, however, Ive come to realise that weve really been on a dummy run, preparing ourselves for the greatest challenge and opportunity of our lifetime. Weve a chance to take a shot at really working together to turn upside down the way we approach the challenges we are facing in the world and to look at them in a brand new, entrepreneurial way. Never has there been a more exciting time for all of us to explore this next great frontier where the boundaries between work and higher purpose are merging into one, where doing good really is good for business. In this book Ill share some great stories about people who are already leading the way. Weve learned a great deal from some of these pioneers as the Virgin Group continues on its journey to transform itself into a force for good for people and for the planet. Ill also share some of our own Virgin Group stories and, I hope, help you learn from some of the many successes and (yes we do have them at Virgin too) the occasional failure weve had along the way.

First and foremost, I have written this book for the new wave of emerging entrepreneurs as well as for existing business people who are transforming their organisations, at the same time as trying to develop a business and to make a living, trying to do more to help people and to help the planet. It reflects a vibrant and very marked sea change from the way business always used to be done, when financial profit was the only driving force. Today, people arent afraid to say, Screw business as usual! and show they mean it.

The other day I was speaking to James Kydd, a former marketing director of Virgin Media in the UK, and he was talking about how this new attitude is wired into the next generation. Today youve got an emerging generation of young people who have a perspective thats different from the one that politicians and many industry leaders have, James said. They have a more balanced view. Just making money, in order simply to give it away, is out of date. Theres a massive generational shift occurring that will blur the distinction between doing good and doing business. I couldnt agree more. I constantly meet a growing army of entrepreneurs around the world, and when they ask me if I have one single message which will help them, I tell them its this: doing good can help improve your prospects, your profits and your business; and it can change the world. Fabio Barbosa, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and former CEO of Santander Brasil, recently summed it up beautifully in an interview with