Leadership is the process of influence a group to focus their efforts in the direction of the accomplishment of a particular objective or targets. Few individuals or none would doubt Richard Branson’s capability to lead. He has a passion, energy and an instinctive style for business like what many successful entrepreneurs possess. Richard Branson is the founder of Virgin, a major cognitive, global brand. The Virgin business Empire consists of over 200 diverse organizations, ranging from transport and tourism to telecommunications, finance, health and leisure, as well as a not-for-profit organization known as Virgin Unite. Branson has a workforce of around 50,000 people present in 34 countries. The virgin group commands huge revenues and profit margins globally. Branson started his initial commerce venture –a student magazine, immediately after leaving school and went on to venture in other businesses making his first million at the tender age of 24 (Branson, 1998). Since, he has turned a serial entrepreneur starting around 200 ventures. Unlike numerous budding entrepreneurs, Branson was never dampened by failure. Even from his failures – a fair share of them, his ability to take risks and to learn from his mistakes, has greatly aided Branson to stand out as the unique entrepreneur and leader he is now. There are some key elements in Branson’s leadership style that have had a huge impact in the success of his numerous businesses. First, being a brand. Who Branson is as a person is related to who he is as a leader and the identity of his companies (Branson, 2011). Richard Branson employs his casual look to communicate his personal identity, and to display his easy, and non-conformist business approach and style. Also, the choice of his business name, Virgin, says much about his defiant approach to business Branson’s hunger for excitement and adventure has seen him confront unbelievable challenges both inside and outside of the work environment. Branson uses his infectious enthusiasm and charm to sway others to join him in his adventures. This is possibly Branson’s supreme talent as a leader. It’s not strange that the virgin headquarters has never been based on some huge complex or tower. Branson HQ though a bit upmarket, it is based in a number of converted houses in Holland Park, therefore, less conformity. This element makes the brand more relatable to the masses and easily approachable and therefore this translates to more keen interest on the brand. Second, being yourself with more skill. Branson is exceedingly skillful at this. He is prominently pleasant and meek. But don’t be fooled by his amiability– when it comes to negotiation, a few can do better and most favor to do business through their lawyers, which speaks volume about his exceptional gift of persuasion (Branson, 2011) His background living in a commune where resources were equally shared with fellow mates and the fact that few rules were in place, greatly helped Branson to learn a lot about what makes people tick – which is a priceless skill for any leader. Branson fuses his differentiated personal preferences to draw and excite people who yearn to be close to someone is antithesis to the typically clad business leader. He’s known to make the best out of life and believes that work and workplace environment ought to be pleasurable. Through making workplace an enjoyable setting, Branson manages to re-establish and pass on his infectious enthusiasm for life to the employees giving them a buzz which encourages them to work hard and to feel they are an integral part of something worthwhile. This style is evident particularly in the initial years of virgin when the employees were paid poorly but still expected to perform at a high level. Branson compensated the poor wages by throwing parties that got employees together which played a part in blurring the edges between work and social life. A good leader generally like people (Dearlove, 1999). That is how they bring out the best in them and by doing so; people reciprocate this by being loyal to the brand which in turn positively impacts the brand. Third element is his engagements on social network. The available technology greatly favors Branson’s approachable leadership style. He engages people daily in online platforms like blogs, Twitter and also has a feature in Virgin’s website called Ask Richard where he personally addresses the most remarkable posts or queries. This enables him to keep a personal touch with the zeitgeist – providing him with a vital skill of a dependable leader which is to be tuned into their strategic environment. This constant engagement has strategically placed the brand in a position to create or improve products that are in sync with the feedback from the masses. Another key element of Branson’s leadership is being realistic. An important aspect of good leadership is readiness to expose flaws (Branson & McLimore, 2013). Branson is no exemption. He candidly acknowledges that his top management team complements his strengths and compensates for his inadequacies. Branson makes no secret the fact that he failed mathematics three times at school. Therefore, he has a group of accountants to do all the computations while he uses his gut instinct to make venture decisions. He is also not afraid to show his weaknesses personally to others on occasion. For instance, he’s known to take his staff out and open up with them. Branson believes letting people in on your human side; it earns a leader respect rather than lose. This style translates to a respectable brand. Respect of the brand and its success are interdependent of each other. Another key element of Branson’s leadership style is being the catalyst. Branson is good at surrounding himself with highly talented and skilled individuals and creating a conducive environment for them to flourish (Branson, 2011). Branson understands his strengths lie on being able to identify and develop new business ideas. His enthusiasm –sometimes naive, can be short-lived and being the greater leader he is, he tasks himself in following through in any new venture for the first three months, before delegating the venture to a capable management team. He offers a stake in the venture to the chief executive of each company because he knows that this incentive will guarantee their commitment to making the business work. This belief in others has assisted him to put together a loyal employee base that is ready to go more than the extra mile to please their boss and to attain Virgin’s challenging goals. The elements of Richard Branson’s leadership style have had a positive impact on his business success. This is because the uniqueness of these elements has enabled him to have a competitive advantage against his competitors. Branson’s involvement with day to day employee affairs for instance, has helped him to identify strengths and weaknesses of each one of them. This helps his avert any business performance problem that may be associated with employee’s poor performance, for example, poor working environment, unsatisfactory wages among others. The element of incorporating fun in his leadership style has helped him succeed in the businesses he ventures into. This can be attributed to the fact that he enjoys doing what he likes, and this approach ends up influencing or motivating the actions of his staff positively which in the long run translates to increased output or production.
The creativity and innovativeness of Branson have enabled him to be a successful entrepreneur as his distinctive brands makes his businesses different other and better than those of his competitors. More often than not, leaders entice themselves into thinking they are good leaders because they simply use a conformity or an approved style to lead. Not too surprisingly, those they lead –often than not, don’t share this line of thinking. To get a true and accurate answer about the question above, it is necessary as a manager to evaluate if Branson’s leadership style is a fit for me. The first criterion is to determine truthfully how his existing employees perceive his leadership style. His staff is the group that knows him best as they have firsthand experience, from operating under him. They are the best judges of his leadership effectiveness. Employees are sharp observers, and their observations may greatly build a perception about him. For instance, if in the past they have gone to him and with honest suggestions or ideas only for them to be deemed a waste of time or cause an outburst, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that one thing the leader doesn’t want to hear is the truth. That case, the leadership style is not fit for anyone. Branson is termed by many as an amiable person who believes it takes an engaged, inspired and dedicated workforce to build thriving, sustainable ventures and encourages creativity, free thinking, feedback and worries about making his employees feel comfortable. In conclusion, Leadership style is evaluated by those immediately subjected to it. What matters is the people’s response to your style. Where the businesses are getting the right response consistently — high productivity and morale —like Branson lead-Virgin group, then the leadership doing just fine. What I would likely draw from working under him is likely to be what an exceptional leader he is and a person every manager can greatly learn and benefit from working under. Leaders grow organization. Richard Branson grew virgin into a multifaceted organization by employing a multifaceted leadership. Multifaceted leaders are multi-skilled individuals who translate their actions to suit the prevailing situations and have the ability to the worst organization into the best ones. The accelerated expansion of The Virgin Group has placed Branson among the best and most successful entrepreneurs of our time. It is safe to say that Branson does things his own way.
The unique aspects of Richard Branson’s leadership style have really contributed to the fast growth of the Virgin Group. It should be noted that Branson uses democratic style of leadership. In this case, he allows his employees to participate in the decision-making process of the company. This has helped the Virgin Group to grow because decisions which are made do not affect the employees negatively or catch them unaware. Therefore, this leadership style meshes well with the Virgin group in that he is inclusive and diverse enough to be able to represent all aspects of the group adequately. Maintaining a focused and motivated workforce is difficult for employers to master particularly when assets and time are stretched out. Given the magnitude and diversity of virgin group of companies, this job could be overwhelming for Branson. Good leaders like Branson know how to motivate workers to carry out goals using a range of techniques; First technique foresight and recognizes its imperativeness in business: he doesn’t wait for an employee to come to approach with a desire t leave for him to consider what the employee’s goals are and what keeps him happy – in his numerous articles, he says this should be central to your hiring decision. Prior to making job offers to prospective employees, it’s important to consider if their plans for their career fit gels with those your company. This helps you in recognizing driven and passionate team members –which are vital assets, he says (Branson, 2011). He understands asking these employees their goals, is key to motivating them. So if their goal is career advancement, he is likely to look for opportunities and add responsibilities for them in expanded projects; if building technical skills is what another desires, Branson is likely to look for the suitable training within his group of companies where the employee can learn on the job; if work-life balance is another person’s he’s likely to find out what his specific needs are and try as much as possible to accommodate them. Branson says keeping in close contact with your staff and discussing how they're making progress is important because you may need to readjust this plan because as they attain their personal goals in the organization, the need to choose others will arise.
Secondly, having in mind Branson desire to make entrepreneurship fun, he understands another key to motivating the workforce is to commemorate your individual, organization’s achievements and those of your human resources. He’s likely to give his employees the liberty to get creative and come up with their own ideas. If an individual comes to you with an idea for a business, it’s important to facilitate and let them launch a start. Over the years some of Virgin’s businesses have sprouted from their employees' ideas (Rigby, 2011). This has aided in venturing and succeeding in numerous new markets. A company should act as a launch pad for go-getting employees, not a deterrent. This is important because each member efforts in the success of the company cannot be overlooked. After working in the project that requires and stretches people to work for long hours, it’s important to free people and give them a chance to reconnect outside the office when the project is accomplished. Virgin group is known to host huge parties to thank the workforce for all the handwork and accomplishments. No one would argue that workers should be gloomy and exploited, yet it seems as though a number of businesses and their managers embark with the objective of presiding over a group of dejected people, and then thrive in doing just that. Therefore, motivating employees should be supreme in any organization. Whether the non-conformity approach Branson employs would work in another organization is something people have tried to establish. This unorthodox approach he has implemented in his diverse successful fields is likely work in any type of business or at least 200 of them –in which case many types will fall among them, because it is something he has tried and succeeded in. Branson is unique in his ability to communicate. He appears to be comfortable with who he is and that the imperative for every leader. Significantly, he is said to treat employees throughout the group with the same esteem. And he never asks people to embark on activities he would not engage in himself. In the launch of Virgin Galactic, Branson says he will be the first to journey on it when it successfully passes its testing test. He said there is no way he would ask others to travel on virgin unless he’s he first to go and that if he didn’t feel it’s safe for him he would not ask anyone to board it.. The effectiveness of such affirming and confidence communication from Branson is evident in the large number of enthusiast of the virgin galactic project. It is reported thousands of people have shown interest, and some even submitted formal request/applications to be part of the projected space flights. There is little question on whether Richard Branson is a global leader is easy to address. With the presence in over 34 countries –all of them successful ventures, there is no other business leader quite like him. His quirky style, his easygoing approach, and his ostensible ability to be all things to all people mean that he is rightly admired as a credible and highly effective leader globally. His leadership approach offers an excellent case study in how unconventional leadership can yield extraordinary results. Five years in a long time and for revolutionist like Branson. In that period, he is likely to have added his tally of businesses even higher. Branson does not regard himself as reckless on the contrary he does understand the need to take big risks in order to have a chance at the big rewards. His creativity, innovativeness and the approach of just doing it, is likely to drive him and others into more challenging ventures. By then the commercial space flights –his brainchild, is likely to materialize. Like Branson says, “The brave may not live forever –but the cautious do not live at all!”
References
Branson, R., & McLimore, D. (2013). Virgin rebel: Richard Branson in his own words.
Branson, R. (1998). Losing my virginity: How I've survived, had fun and made a fortune doing business my way. New York: Times Business.
Branson, R. (2011). Screw business as usual. Tullamarine, Vic: Bolinda Audio.
Dearlove, D. (1999). Business the Richard Branson way: 10 secrets of the world's greatest brand-builder. New York: Amacom.
Rigby, R. (2011). 28 business thinkers who changed the world: The management gurus and mavericks who changed the way we think about business. London: Kogan Page
