VIRGIN RICHARD BRANSON LEADERSHIP

Virgin Richard Branson Leadership



Virgin Richard Branson Leadership

Introduction

Richard Branson the chief Executive of the Virgin Group is well known for making successful businesses out of 'crazy ideas'. It is a known fact that Branson can make any business profitable in the most unusual ways, he does it all himself, be it dressing like a bride or flying in a hot air balloon. Branson is the most innovative entrepreneur of the 21st century. He is known for his Virgin brand, a banner that represents his organization and he is also known to be a leader with informality and information. Branson values people at the bottom level of the organization, and encourages them to move upwards through his various incentive plans. This report is a study on Sir Richard Branson on his leadership style through achievements that he has gain and defeats that he has overcome throughout his life events. There will be analysis and learning value on his leadership style.

Discussion

The Virgin Group is one of the UK's largest private companies, with an annual turnover estimated at £3bn per annum by 2000. Virgin's highest-profile business was Virgin Atlantic, which had developed to be a major force in the international airline business. However, the group spanned over 200 businesses from financial services through to railways; from entertainment mega stores and soft drinks to cosmetics and condoms. Its name was instantly recognizable. Research showed that the Virgin name was associated with words such as 'fun', 'innovative', 'daring' and 'successful'. The personal image and personality of the founder, Richard Branson, were high profile; in British advertisements for Apple Computers, together with Einstein and Gandhi, he was featured as a 'shaper of the 20th century'.

Biography & Achievements

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born in Surrey, England on 18 July 1950 (The Biography Channel, 2008). He is best known for his widely successful Virgin brand, a name that encompasses a variety of business organization. He is currently the 236th richest person in the world according to Forbes 2008 list of billionaires.

He was educated in an exclusive Stowe School and did not excel in his academics but was really competent in sports. At the age of Sixteen (16) he develops a national magazine, Student and at Seventeen (17) he began a Student Advisory Centre to help young people. (West, 2008) In 1970 he founded Virgin as a mail-order record retailer and shortly after he opened a record shop in Oxford Street, London. In 1972 a first recording studio was built in Oxfordshire and the first album of the newly created Virgin Records went on to sell over 5 million copies, and over the years many household names, including Belinda Carlisle, Genesis, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson and The Rolling Stones, helped make Virgin Music one of the top six record companies in the world. The equity of Virgin Music Group - record labels, music publishing and recording studios - was sold to THORN EMI in 1992 in a billion-dollar ...