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January 27 - February 14, 2018
“This setback is tragic, but the courage and commitment of your fellow team will soon help you all to recover, and from the energy of grief, the phoenix will arise with even more resolve and commitment.” Messages such as these brought real solace at a time of darkness. I was very grateful that some of the press began to report more responsibly, and recognize that Virgin Galactic had dealt very well with an extremely difficult situation. They interviewed genuine experts who understood Virgin Galactic’s purpose and expertise.
Uplifting words...
My instinct is if you create something extraordinary there will be a market in the end. Is it a vanity project? I don’t think so. Elon Musk’s desire to go to Mars, and our wish to put people into space, certainly can both be perceived as vanity projects. But if people didn’t want to test themselves in an extreme way, progress wouldn’t happen and the world would be a sadder, smaller place.
Check out this quote.
Virgin has always wanted to make a difference. We have gone into markets where others dare not tread, and shaken them up. We don’t just provide services or products; we provide experiences that leave people changed, and wanting to create new world-changing experiences themselves.
I believe that putting our faith in space travel serves, quite literally, a higher purpose. We could expand our understanding of the universe, explore the great unknown and improve countless lives back on Earth. In the decades to come, we could be a precursor to further space exploration, which could lead to the colonization of other planets and the eventual endurance of the human race. There can be no greater challenge.
Well said Richard Branson!
With Virgin America’s partner Cyrus Capital, we went through the exhaustive process of getting a successful listing ready for the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York. Over in the UK, meanwhile, Jayne-Anne was preparing Virgin Money for their IPO. What we were attempting was unprecedented: two public listings in two completely different sectors by one brand within twenty-four hours.
I just checked their stock quotes...
We need to keep our risk-taking attitude and stick our necks out when the time is right. I have seen so many companies come and go, largely because they didn’t reinvent themselves. They stayed in a sector that had died, whereas Virgin was always one step ahead of the game. I learned that from the great musicians as much as anyone else. David Bowie, Prince, Madonna—their careers are lessons in the power of transformation.
It’s why I started with a magazine, then went into music as a young man. As I started traveling more, it made sense to branch out into airlines, holidays and hotels. As somebody constantly on the move, mobile phones and connectivity were a good fit next. When I got a little older, I became more health-conscious and our health and wellness businesses followed.
Ideas
When you go into new territories it is helpful if you already have brand recognition, but crucial to have local knowledge and adapt to the environment. In
The deal was a perfect example of our investment strategy for the new business landscape: building companies to scale, then accessing external capital to build them further through sales of stakes to partners or through the public markets. I called Matthew and reminded him of the promise he and Frank had made at our first meeting sixteen years earlier. “You said we would build a billion-dollar company,” I recalled. “Well, today you’ve done it. Well done!”
Entrepreneurs and business majors take note!
One of the best explanations for these poor standards was consolidation, and, as time has passed, American aviation has only got more consolidated. By 2016 the four biggest airlines in the US—American, United, Southwest and Virgin Atlantic’s partner Delta—controlled around 80 percent of the market. Ten years earlier, by contrast, there had been nine major airlines in the States. Into this shrinking market, Virgin America had won people’s hearts and fierce loyalty. I wanted to make sure that whoever won the race to buy us didn’t throw all that we’d worked for away.
Thought provoking data...
“First of all, Andrew, we all love your idea. But I’m sorry; we can’t get you all the money you need. But we can get you $1 million.” He said how very grateful he was, but I could tell he was a little disappointed. “Only joking!” As everyone came rushing back into the room, I told him he had his $100 million. “Now get out there and transform many, many, many more lives in many, many more countries.” There was much laughter and even tears among those who’d gathered and been so incredibly generous.
LIFE CHANGING. One startup got $100 million from investors!
Ideas can be dazzling, indefinable and mysterious; they can strike at any moment, and can change the world. But they only change the world if they can be honed down into something understandable, relatable and definable—while not losing that little piece of magic that made them a great idea in the first place. They need the right setting, the right timing and the right people to turn them into reality.
Check out this quote.
I told them my own story of becoming an entrepreneur, reassured them that it doesn’t take a lot of money to start a business and urged them to look into Virgin StartUp for a helping hand. I also told them that if they did find themselves working within a company rather than starting their own, they shouldn’t let their entrepreneurial instincts sit
The list of locations continued to grow: our vineyard Mont Rochelle in South Africa welcomes keen wine tasters; The Lodge in Switzerland has become our regular New Year’s escape and shelters keen skiers and hikers all year round; Mahali Mzuri, our equally stunning safari lodge in Kenya that sits slap bang in the middle of the Great Migration, has joined the collection, too. Most recently, we finally found a way to get back to our adored Mallorca coast, buying the stunning Son Bunyola to recreate the magical feel that La Residencia had in the early days.
Check out this quote.
After long and detailed negotiations with Bain Capital, one of the world’s leading private investment firms, we agreed to one of the biggest deals in Virgin’s history. In June 2015, I took a helicopter ride across Biscayne Bay and landed at Miami’s Museum Park. I was in town to announce that PortMiami would be the home of Virgin Voyages’ first cruise ship. Renowned Italian shipbuilders Fincantieri are building three midsize ships for us, with the first ready to sail in 2020 and the next two following in 2021 and 2022.
Virgin is all over the map- airlines, spaceships, hotels, records, banks, gyms, trains, ships, and their non profits.
We had already introduced a flexible working policy, whereby Virgin Group’s head office staff can work from home and take time off when they need it. But what would it mean to go further, and give our employees “unlimited leave?” Exactly that—leave without limits. You read that correctly: we decided to let all our head office team take as much holiday as they want, when they want, fully paid. There is no catch—all the employees have to do is get consent from their manager. It is based on trust, and the assumption that nobody will leave their colleagues in the lurch and only take holiday when
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Amazing work policy!
When I left the meeting, I couldn’t work out whether he wanted to be a partner or not, though I suspected the latter. Elon is tremendously smart and even more driven. I admire his talent and willingness to take calculated risks. He has been inches from failure on many, many occasions and kept pushing. He’s the Henry Ford of his generation. Whether we end up working together or not, we’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, we’ll remain friends.
Elon Musk is phenomenal....Relentless and driven. A genius entrepreneur.
Ted Turner, founder of CNN...
Having said that, I wouldn’t bet against Larry Page or Mark Zuckerberg. Larry has already proved me wrong with self-driving cars. I remember being at the bar on Necker about eight years ago, when he told me “Self-driving cars are my new obsession. Within the next decade, they will be everywhere.” At the time, I didn’t think it was one of his more plausible ideas. But the technology has since improved, just as Larry had predicted.
They are one of my fascinations as well..! Technology rocks…:-)
We opened the perfect spot in February 2015: a 150,000-square-foot facility at Long Beach airport. We moved 120 of our engineers and technicians there, and they immediately got to work. The way we had pivoted the business was fairly typical of Virgin ventures—we have to be nimble, open to opportunities and ready for change. Behind the scenes, I was thinking about how
It’s important to look simplistically at everything—even the most complex problems could have answers staring you straight in the face. This attitude had also led to a small number of Virgin Galactic staff spending time pondering the question of point-to-point travel.
Check out this quote.
There is potential to fly from the US to Australia in two hours using this method and there’s no reason why point-to-point travel can’t be achieved (even if everyone might not enjoy the g-forces!).
I lingered behind a curtain, atop a Land Rover in front of the spaceship, with the proud team of engineers that built her behind me. Malala Yousafzai shared some inspirational words about the role of women in science, and in particular in building VSS Unity. Her voice echoed around the hangar: “My superpower is to speak for girls in a voice so loud that the whole world will listen. This spacecraft is such a great work, and it’s a way that you are inspiring young people in this whole world to explore more, to go further and to have no boundaries.” While I was itching to show off the spaceship,
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WOW.....Wish I had been there; a day to remember!
On 10 May 2016, I was invited to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Queen’s ninetieth birthday. It was a magnificent occasion that even the light drizzle of the afternoon couldn’t dampen: if anything, the array of umbrellas only added to the color of the occasion. Out on the lawn, I took the opportunity to congratulate Her Majesty for decades of remarkable service.
In 2016, Britain and Europe faced the most important decision to be made in my lifetime. A long-brewing storm reached a head when David Cameron announced an in-out referendum on Britain’s European Union membership. Mr. Cameron keenly wanted to remain in the EU,
But instead, all they asked me about was Brexit. I told host Piers Morgan that I estimated Virgin had lost a third of its value overnight. “Look at bank shares, some of them have gone down by as much as 50 percent,” I said, adding that “the pound has collapsed to its lowest level in thirty years.” On reflection, it probably wasn’t prudent to share these details, but I was confident Virgin was strong enough to survive and thrive, whatever the market conditions. But this wasn’t about my business—it was about getting across the sheer scale of calamity Brexit was unleashing on Britain and Europe.
That night I had dinner with a group of young people and we got talking about Brexit. The results showed that the UK’s younger generations were strongly in support of remaining in the EU: 73 percent of eighteen to twenty-four-year-olds voted for Remain. However, the decision was toppled by much older generations—who make up a larger chunk of the voting population. One young girl said: “It really makes me want to weep. These people over sixty, who will be dead before long, have ruined our opportunities and lives.
If I had been a British citizen my vote would have been to remain!
Regretting not doing something is worse than regretting doing something. It means I can sleep with a clear conscience. We all have to fight for our values and protect the things that matter to us, but also appreciate the joys life brings us. I fully intend to continue doing both. CHAPTER 40 Traingate To me, August means holidays with the family.
CONCUR...
I was continuing to train harder than ever for the Virgin Strive Challenge, which was fast approaching. Two years on from Sam’s hair-raising rescue off the summit of the Matterhorn, we were planning another adventure. This time I would join Holly, Sam, my nephew Noah and hundreds of others to travel more than 2,000 kilometers from the base of the Matterhorn to the summit of Mount Etna in Sicily. We would hike across the Alps of northern Italy, cycle to the southern tip of Italy, swim to Sicily, mountain-bike to the foothills of Etna, complete a half-marathon run up the volcano, and then hike
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Check out this quote.
I’m confident their children will grow up happy to tell them anything, which is the philosophy we always had with Holly and Sam. We have always wanted what’s best for them, which means being honest both ways, telling them everything and letting them make their own decisions and mistakes. The strength of our family is unreserved love and openness. We are lucky that Joan and I have been together for so long, which has given tremendous stability to the kids, nephews, nieces and friends they have had for many years. I hope it continues for generations to come.
“The beauty of having children is that the relationship gets better, stronger and more magical with every day that goes by. Love you both so, so much.” I thought back to a farewell letter I wrote to them twenty years earlier, as I prepared to embark on a ballooning challenge I wasn’t sure I would return from. More than ever, I felt so lucky to have survived to share so many more memories and adventures with the people I care about. To build more organizations, hear more laughter, take on more challenges, share more love and go on Finding My Virginity in business, in life and in love.
Check out this quote.
The way to become a great leader is to look for the best in people—seldom criticize—always praise. You will also have to earn your leadership—but must accept you may never earn it. It won’t be easy. People will be cynical. Suspicious. You mustn’t earn it because you are my children—but despite of the fact that you are my children. You have to prove how good you are with people and what good listeners you are.
I love surrounding myself with young people, and I’m sure they keep me youthful, educate me and open my eyes to new ideas. As we get older it is a danger to get set in our ways and believe what we believe. I love having my mind changed. That is one of the challenges I entrust to you, your sister and cousins too.
I share the sentiment...:-)
You have entered a world where you have limitless opportunities. You are part of a bigger family than your relations alone—you are part of the Virgin family. For many, many years at Virgin we were literally struggling to survive. It was a long learning process, with no outside financial backing, and we were fumbling in the dark. We hadn’t been taught what to do, we were learning on the job with no experience whatsoever. Everything was fresh and new, and there was a first time for everything. All of that is ahead of you. There will be so many failures, so many mistakes, but so many triumphs, so
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ADVICE
All we can do is keep moving forward, falling over, supporting each other and getting back up again. As we get older it is hard to maintain the sense of adventure you have been born with, and I want you to help me keep hold of my childlike spirit of wonder.
By the time you read this, the world will have transformed again. When I think to what 2050 will look like, my mind whirrs to you visiting for my 100th birthday on a supersonic flight, staying at space hotels and being connected to every person on the planet. Back on Earth, if I start predicting the future I worry I sound like a Miss World contestant. Yes, I do want to see a world without conflict. I want to see the ocean protected and species preserved. I want equal rights for all, an end to the death penalty and the war on drugs. I want education transformed to become useful and practical,
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Uplifting message...READ THIS BOOK!
