This is the worldwide bestselling autobiography of iconic entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, featuring his take on his latest business ventures, personal achievements and intrepid adventures.

In Losing my Virginity, you’ll discover how Sir Richard is committed to building a better world through responsible, holistic business practices and ventures such as the Virgin Health Bank, which is contributing to regenerative medicine, Virgin Fuels, which has pledged £200 million to renewable energy projects, and his company’s charitable arm, Virgin Unite. You’ll also learn about how Sir Richard and his company are reaching for the stars in a new era of commercial space travel with Virgin Galactic.

With insights into this very public figure’s personal life as well as his business successes and the lessons he’s learned along the way, this is an amazing memoir, motivational business guide and inspiring story that will capture your imagination.

Reviews

Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- “There was a great sense of teamwork within our family. Whenever we were within Mum’s orbit we had to be busy. If we tried to escape by saying that we had something else to do, we were firmly told we were selfish. As a result we grew up with a clear priority of putting other people first.”

2- “Later, it became apparent to me that business could be a creative enterprise in itself. If you publish a magazine, you’re trying to create something that is original, that stands out from the crowd, that will last and, hopefully, serve some useful purpose. Above all, you want to create something you are proud of. That has always been my philosophy of business. I can honestly say that I have never gone into any business purely to make money. If that is the sole motive then I believe you are better off not doing it. A business has to be involving; it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.”

3- “In the many different business worlds I have inhabited since that night in prison, there have been times when I could have succumbed to some form of bribe, or could have had my way by offering one. But ever since that night in Dover prison I have never been tempted to break my vow. My parents had always drummed into me that all you have in life is your reputation: you may be very rich, but if you lose your good name you’ll never be happy. Th( The thought will always lurk at the back of your mind that people don’t trust you. I had never really focused on what a good name truly meant before, but that night in prison made me understand.”

4- “It is always difficult to admit to a failure, but the one positive thing about the Event episode was that I realized how important it was to separate the various Virgin companies so that, if one failed, it would not threaten the rest of the Virgin Group. Event was a disaster, but it was a contained disaster. Every successful businessman has failed at some ventures. and most entrepreneurs who run their own companies have been declared bankrupt at least once. Rather than defaulting on our debts, we paid them up and shut down the magazine.”

5- “It was one of our early acquisitions, and it gave us first-hand experience of all the pain that comes with laying off staff in order to turn a company round. It also demonstrated the benefits of growing a company from scratch, when you employ exactly those people you want, and really f establish the kind of atmosphere you want.”

6- “In the same way that I tend to make up my mind about people within thirty seconds of meeting them, I also make up my mind about whether a business proposal excites me within about thirty seconds of looking at it. I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics. This might be because, due to my dyslexia, I distrust numbers, which I feel can be twisted to prove anything.”

7- “As well as the constrictions of having to report to nonexecutive directors and shareholders, one of my main i frustrations with being a public company quoted on the stock market was the short-term view which investors took. We were under pressure to produce instant results, and unless we paid out a large dividend our share price would suffer. Japanese investors do) not invest with the dividend payment in mind; they look almost exclusively for capital growth. And, given that it can take a long time for investments to pay off. Japanese share prices are very high in comparison i with the company’s earnings.”

8- “It sometimes seems to me that I have spent all my life trying to persuade bankers to extend their loans. Given that Virgin’s policy has always been to reinvest our surplus cash back into the business, our profit and loss accounts understate the underlying value of the businesses. This policy has worked over the long term. but whenever there is a crisis it disguises the real picture and means that the banks worry about our short-term profits and ability to pay our immediate interest.”

9- “Obstinate as I am, I recognized that there is a time to back down. ‘Live for the present -‘ I heard my parents’ old maxim in the back of my head ‘- and the future will look after itself.'”

10- “You just need to look at where Virgin is now to see that business is a fluid, changing substance. As far as I’m concerned, the company will never stand still. It has always been a mutating, indefinable thing and the past few years have demonstrated that.”

11- “My vision for Virgin has never been rigid and changes constantly, like the company itself. I have always lived my life by making lists: lists of people to call, lists of ideas, lists of companies to set up, lists of people who can make things happen. Each day I work through these lists, and it is that sequence of calls which propels me forward.”

12- “In some ways it all boils down to convention. As you might have noticed, I do not set much store by such so-called wisdom. Conventionally, you concentrate on what you are doing and never stray beyond fairly narrow boundaries when running a company. Not only lo I find that restrictive, I also think that it’s dangerous. If you only run record shops and refuse to embrace change, when something new like the Internet is launched you will lose your sales to the person who makes use of the new medium. It’s far better to set up your own Internet operation to which your record shops lose business than lose it to somebody else’s Internet operation.”

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The global icon shares his secrets of success and exciting plans for the future.

Throughout my life I have achieved many remarkable things. In Screw It, Let’s Do It, I will share with you my ideas and the secrets of my success, but not simply because I hope they’ll help you achieve your individual goals.

Today we are increasingly aware of the effects of our actions on the environment, and I strongly believe that we each have a responsibility, as individuals and organisations, to do no harm. I will draw on Gaia Capitalism to explain why we need to take stock of how we may be damaging the environment, and why it is up to big companies like Virgin to lead the way in a more holistic approach to business.

In Screw It, Let’s Do It I’ll be looking forwards to the future. A lot has changed since I founded Virgin in 1968, and I’ll explain how I intend to take my business and my ideas to the next level and the new and exciting areas – such as launching Virgin Fuels – into which Virgin is currently moving.

But I have also brought together all the important lessons, good advice and inspirational adages that have helped me along the road to success.

Ironically, I have never been one to do things by the book, but I have been inspired and influenced by many remarkable people. I hope that you too might find a little inspiration between these pages.

Reviews

I read this book for the first time many years ago and I have read it a few times since.
This man has is one of a kind and you find out what he has done and how he came to do the things he has done.
Its a fantastic quick read, even for me.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone, especially if you are an entrepreneur or thinking you may want to become one.

About the Author

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Twenty years after his iconic memoir Losing My Virginity, the world’s ultimate entrepreneur is back with the rest of the story.

Richard Branson’s Losing My Virginity shared the outrageous tale of how he built Virgin from a student magazine into one of the greatest brands in history. No challenge was too daunting, no opportunity too outlandish to pursue. And each new adventure started with five simple words: “Screw it, let’s do it.”

Now, fifty years after starting his first business, Branson shares the candid details of a lifetime of triumphs and failures and what he really thinks about his unique life and career. Finding My Virginity is an intimate look at his never-ending quest to push boundaries, break rules, and seek new frontiers—even after launching a dozen billion-dollar businesses and hundreds of other companies.

As he led Virgin into the new millennium, Branson fearlessly expanded the brand into new categories such as mobile, media, fitness, and banking and into every corner of the globe—all while preserving its iconoclastic, scrappy spirit. He even brought Virgin into space with Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline. Finding My Virginity takes us behind the scenes of the incredible brains, heart, and sacrifices that have gone into making private spaceflight an imminent reality—even after the biggest crisis Branson has ever faced.

But this book is much more than a series of business adventures. It’s also the story of Branson’s evolution from hotshot entrepreneur to passionate philanthropist and public servant, via Virgin Unite’s environmental and health initiatives and through the Elders, a council of influential global leaders. And it’s the story of his personal quest to become a better son, husband, father, and “grand-dude” to his four grandchildren.

Featuring a supporting cast that includes everyone from Bill Gates to Kate Moss, Nelson Mandela to Barack Obama, this is the gripping account of a man who will never stop reaching for the stars, in more ways than one. Find out how Branson did it for the first time—all over again.

Reviews

Richard Branson is known as a serial entrepreneur, explorer, and storyteller. In a little over 400 pages he shares his passions and dreams from entertainment to space travel. Sir Richard Branson engages us in the story of his second auto-biography with grace and class. With over 13 million followers on LinkedIn, he is ranked higher than Bill Gates. The story of Finding the Virgins tells us why.

The New Autobiography, Finding My Virginity is a must read for any person interested in entrepreneurship. The self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur lives and loves to build businesses. His secret is understanding pain and an extra-ordinary ability to surround himself with talent that can execute solutions to a broad vision of problem solving. Branson credits part of his creativity to dyslexia, which enabled him to literally “see things differently”. While he enjoys the game of “seek and find” of new virgins (ventures), he is less interested in the process of operations.

Finding my Virginity is not a manifesto on the businesses of Branson, it is a detailed unfolding of how one man changed his life and the lives of people across the globe. Its an amazing story, one which started as a student and now 5 decades later has diversified from entertainment to space travel. In his personal life he shares the inspirations of his parents; the loves of his life; the parenting of his children; and the reconciliation of elder age with four grandchildren. His passion for life and learning is evident page after page, however to-date, his daughter is the only Branson who earned a college degree. Branson’s success causes us to pause and assess the training of entrepreneurs. What is the opportunity cost of educating versus entrepreneurship training?

Much of Branson’s time and philanthropic investments are channeled to increase and improve youth entrepreneurship in Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. Last year we visited the Branson Center in Jamaica where many island entrepreneurs are supported via a network of technological and other resource systems.

You must read the book to find out how many Virgins there are in the brand but what is consistent is their core values. In searching for a single quote that resonates in the soul of why one should be interested in the entrepreneurial journey; I found this one to be worthy,

“Economies will rise and fall upon the creativity and ingenuity of entrepreneurs, and big companies and governments are beginning to realize that start-ups are the job creators of the future . . . I’ve said it before but there really has never been a better time to start a business.”

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While building the Virgin Group over forty years, Richard Branson has never shied away from seemingly outlandish challenges that others (including his own colleagues on several occasions) considered sheer lunacy. He has taken on giants like British Airways and won, and monsters like Coca-Cola and lost.
Now Branson gives an inside look at his strikingly different swashbuckling style of leadership. Learn how fun, family, passion, and the dying art of listening are key components to what his extended family of employees around the world have always dubbed (with a wink) the “Virgin Way.”

This unique perspective comes from a man who dropped out of school at sixteen, suffers from dyslexia, and has never worked for anyone but himself. He may be famous for thinking outside the box—an expression he despises—but Branson asserts that “you’ll never have to think outside the box if you refuse to let anyone build one around you.”

This is a unique book on leadership from someone who readily admits he has never read a book on leadership in his life. So expect the unexpected.

Review

About the Author

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