The Virgin Way: Everything I Know about Leadership

The Virgin Way: Everything I Know about Leadership Sir Richard Branson Penguin Group (USA) LLC (2014) 352 Pages, Hardcover, $29.95Have you ever envisioned working for a company where the sky is literally the limit, and your boss is standing next to you encouraging you to jump head first into the unknown? Do you thrive on unconventional approaches to business, people management, and organizational leadership? Do you dare to dream big? If you answered yes to any, or all, of these questions, then this book may be the motivation that you need to take the next step. "Screw it, let's do it!" is the approach that the ingenious Sir Richard Branson takes in his brilliantly entertaining handbook for leadership and management The Virgin Way: Everything I Know about Leadership. Author of more than a dozen books on business and entrepreneurship, Sir Richard Branson has no qualms about openly discussing some of his most legendary successes, epic failures, and all of the vitally important lessons that he learned along the way.Branson began to build his commercial empire at the age of sixteen after dropping out of school to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. More than four decades later, his reign extends over more than one hundred entities that comprise the Virgin Group. The Virgin Way: Everything I Know about Leadership provides the reader with an inside look at Branson's unconventional approach to leadership which can be summed up into four major categories that have impacted the way that he has triumphantly conducted business. Part One, entitled LISTEN, begins with and introduction to Branson's early history as an entrepreneur and discusses how his upbringing encouraged him to pursue his dreams and never question his instincts. He then transitions to topics of great importance such as the art of active listening, customer service and satisfaction, the finely honed craft of "K-I-S-S" (keep it simple stupid) - why less is often more, and ends the section with a candid discussion on why the majority of all corporate mission statements are anything but inspirational on virtually all levels. This section is a phenomenal icebreaker for this book, and really gets the reader prepped for the underlying issues that Mr. Branson raises throughout the remainder of the book. Section Two (LEARN), Section Three (LAUGH), and Section Four (LEAD) all follow suit using Branson's real life anecdotes to further explore topics that are essential to leadership in the 21st century. He delves into meaningful issues in such areas as hiring the "right employees", creating a strong corporate culture, collaboration, and decisionmaking.The Virgin Way: Everything I Know about Leadership is a very straightforward and lighthearted management and leadership guide that is overflowing with valuable narratives and real life experiences from the well-known Sir Richard Branson. Branson's charismatic personality and zest for life added a personal touch to this book that few business periodical authors are able to capture, and his smooth conversational writing style kept me, as the reader, on my toes and always wondering what he would come up with next. …