Richard Branson
Group One
Chan Yin Mui, Angel
Chong Kar Yee, Lucy
Wong Ka Pik, Venus
Wu Yi Hua, Eva
Yeung Chui Ying, Tracy
Outline of Presentation
Profile of Richard Branson
Profile of Virgin Group
Richard Branson's leadership style/approach
Situational circumstances contribute to
Branson’s success
Comments on Richard Branson
Profile of Richard Branson
Job: Chairman, Virgin Group
Age:51
Marital Status: Married, with 2 children
2001 Ranking: 52
1) Profile of Richard Branson
& his Virgin
Profile of Richard Branson
1950 Grew up in a traditional family and received
education at Stowe School
1970 Founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer.
Later in this year, a record shop opened in London
1992 Virgin Music Group---sold to Thorn EMI in a $1
billion US deal
1992 Starting of the Megastore
1984 Started the Virgin Atlantic Airways
2001 Received 2 knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II
Impression of Branson…
Enviably successful!
Rich! Extremely Rich!
Fun-loving~
Flamboyant~
Virgin Key Businesses
1. Virgin Travel Group Limited
(Includes Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays)
established in 1984
big fleet with 26 Boeing 747s and Airbuses
Revenues : 1.6 billion
Profits : 151 million
Virgin Key Businesses
2. Virgin Entertainment
(Includes Megastore and Virgin
Cinema)
Revenues : 1.3 billion
Profits : 81 million
Virgin Key Businesses
3. Virgin Rail
(Includes Cross country
and West Coast)
Revenues : 671 million
Profits : 22.9 million
AttributesRisk-seeking & Innovative
Risk Seeking
Evidence: His insatiable desire to take on
Coca Cola and British Airways-the industry
giants
Careful plan for aggressive competition:
make a lot of noise to irritate those
gorillas,so that they tried to swat back.
Then he waited for their mistakes
2) Attributes of
Richard Branson
AttributesRisk-seeking & Innovative
Innovative
Evidence: tried out every mean to
promote his company
Example:
1) Drive a tank down 5th Avenue in N.Y
city to introduce Virgin Cola to the States
AttributesRisk-seeking & Innovative
2)Fly a hot air balloon across Atlantic to
promote his Virgin Airlines
3)Wear a wedding gown to promote his new
bride chains
AND MANY MORE!
AttributesPeople-Oriented
His belief: PEOPLE COME FIRST
‘PEOPLE’: includes Employees and
Customers
likes to refer to the Virgin staffs as a
large extended family
e.g. gives every new employee his
telephone number & encourages them to
call him if they come up with any bright
ideas or complaints
AttributesPeople-oriented
For customers, he tries to keep them
paying the lowest price for their products
as long as he can cover the cost and earn
‘some’ profit
Believes in keeping faith with the staffs
no matter in good times or bad
E.g.He shared the settlement from British
Airways equally with his staffs
AttributesDetermined & Optimistic
Failed to wrestle the UK’s
lottery franchise from
Camelot
But was dignified in defeat
Looked into the positive
side
AttributesDetermined & Optimistic
Immediate action:
call the CEO of Camelot
asked her not to feel sorry for him……
because he still had a beautiful life!
Within days, he announced his own
non-profit game.
3) Richard Branson’s
Leadership Style
A) Transformational
Leadership
“Master Motivator”
Pushing employees into
their limits
Turning the self-interests
of employees to the sake
of “Virgin”
A) Transformational
Leadership
He believes: Enthusiasm is infectious!
He is good at:
Attempting the impossible
To excite, arouse and inspire followers
Giving trust and encouraging followers
A) Transformational
Leadership
Example: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
He asked John, the marketing manager of
Virgin, to place an ad in the London Evening
Standard. Tomorrow will be the deadline!
** He gave confident to John and said, “Do your
best all the same as normal.”
Result: John paid superhuman effort and
spent entire day, did make the last edition
of the standard.
B) Empowerment Leadership
Style
Definition:

Intrinsic motivation and selfefficacy of people are influenced
by leadership behavior, job
characteristics, etc .

Transferring authority to
subordinates
B) Empowerment Leadership
Style
“Virgin” Trademark
Situation:
More than 200 companies
Not feasible, hard to be
boss of all of them
Solution:
Empowerment
B) Empowerment Leadership
Style
Branson  Backseat Leader
“ I know when to get out the way
and let people get on with it.”
 = Want, X= don’t want
X  people follow him blindly
X  hired hands
  individual entrepreneurs
B) Empowerment Leadership
Style
Advantages of this style
Virgin staffs 
regard works are meaningful
develop self-determination and
self-efficacy because they
have a significant impact on
works.
C) Charismatic Leadership
Attribution Theory
Charismatic leader
A form of INFLUENCE
Based on followers’ PERCEPTION
Leader has exceptional QUALIUTIES
Example:
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
Founded in 1984
Branson’s vision
Dangers behind?
Extremely capital-intensive
Laker Airline’s failure
Aviation industry: political
Example:
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
Branson: To be? Or not to be?
That is the QUESTION!
Branson: Go on!
Think about:
Risk: huge loss (Virgin)
Personal failure: money, status!
Example:
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
What did Branson demonstrate?
His……
Courage
- Vision
Self-Confidence - Commitment
Embrace to Changes
Dreaming Impossible Dreams ;
Challenge
Act in unconventional ways
Example:
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
Branson’s decision making process:
Rational
Logical
Realistic Assessment
Minimize risk
Balance between DREAM and REALITY
Example:
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
Branson = Charismatic leader?
 Courage
Self-confidence
Think Rationally
 Embrace changes
 Commitment
Charismatic leader
Vision, Confidence, Courage
bearing substantial risk
Minimize risk, at the same time~
Therefore……
Richard Branson
= Charismatic Leader~
= Effective Leader~
D) Inspirational Leadership
Manage employees with “Tough Empathy”
Empathize people
Care about employees’ work
Branson’s Philosophy
An ADVANTAGE of Virgin:
EMPLOYEES
SUCCESS of Virgin:
EMPLOYEES + MOTIVATION
 Branson’s concern:
Employees’ cohesion + satisfaction
Examples?
Promote from within
Assign Virgin’s bright people to new
companies
Stretching, Developing employees
Provide opportunities!
More Examples?
Party Hard!
Throw a party…
When morale is low…………..↓↓
Letter (sealed with a kiss…?)
Every month, Branson wrote personally
Content:
Heart-warming messages~~~
Virgin’s plan~
Branson Cares!
Employees’ work
Their Feeling, Satisfaction
Branson:
an inspirational leader
Branson: an effective leader
4) Our Stand Point:
Richard Branson comes up with
a great success !!!
Argument for Branson’s
success
1) High-high leader
Both task and relations-oriented
Tasks: Clear objectives and goals for all Virgin
Brand  Customization
Relations: treats everyone equally + support
Example: He writes birthday card to staffs to
praise their effort of saving virgin’s reputation.
Argument for Branson’s
success
2) Innovative and unique leadership
style
Richard Branson
 likes creative and innovative ideas
 encourages his subordinates to look beyond
the differences in each sector
 Adopts diversification strategy
 Sectors where he had set up  never the
same again
Argument for Branson’s
success
Our team impressed by his
adventure-liked Style.
He likes daunting challenge,
he views impossible as just
another business
opportunities.
 Vision