Why Business Tycoon Richard Branson Is An Inspiring Personality

Richard Branson is one of my favourite people. He’s perhaps best known for his non-award-winning role as the hat salesman in the obscure 90s sit-com, Friends. But what many people don’t know is that he’s also the billionaire founder of Virgin…

I’ve found Branson’s insights to be a useful guiding force in many of the business and life decisions I’ve made over the past few years. I hope these quotes are enlightening for you, too.

1. A passionate belief in your business and personal objectives can make all the difference between success and failure. If you aren’t proud of what you’re doing, why should anybody else be?
2. An exceptional company is the one that gets all the little details right. And the people out on the front line, they know when things are not going right, and they know when things need to be improved. And if you listen to them, you can soon improve all those niggly things which turns an average company into an exceptional company.
3. My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them.
4. When I was a kid, I had a tendency to criticise. But when I did, my mum would whisk me off to the bathroom to stand in front of a mirror. Ten minutes, never less. To think about how criticism is a poor reflection on the one who criticises.
5. From my very first day as an entrepreneur, I’ve felt the only mission worth pursuing in business is to make people’s lives better.
6. My general attitude to life is to enjoy every minute of every day. I never do anything with a feeling of, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to do this today.’
7. When we launched a new company, I reviewed the ads and marketing materials and asked those presenting the campaign to read everything aloud to test the phrasing and concept. If I could grasp it quickly, then it passed with muster. We would get our message across only if it was understandable at first glance.
8. Fun is one of the most important — and underrated — ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.
9. Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.
10. You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

[This post by Jon Westenberg first appeared on Medium and has been reproduced with permission.]

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