From Struggles to Success: Richard Branson’s Entrepreneurial Journey

  • August 27, 2023
  • Entrepreneurship & Startups

richard branson business model

From humble beginnings to global success, Richard Branson’s entrepreneurial journey is a testament to the power of resilience and determination.

Overcoming early struggles and setbacks, Branson defied the odds to become one of the world’s wealthiest individuals.

Through his iconic Virgin brand, he has revolutionized industries and inspired countless aspiring entrepreneurs.

With a bold spirit and a commitment to making a difference, Branson’s story serves as a beacon of innovation and creativity in the business world.

Join us as we explore the extraordinary path of Richard Branson, from struggles to unparalleled success.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

  • Richard Branson’s early struggles and failures did not define his success.
  • Branson’s success and achievements are evident in his net worth and the range of industries he has ventured into.
  • Branson emphasizes the importance of overcoming obstacles and challenges for personal and entrepreneurial growth.
  • Branson’s business strategy involves branding, empowering talent, and venturing into diverse industries.

Early Struggles and Setbacks

Richard Branson faced early struggles and setbacks. He was a high-school dropout with poor reading and math skills. He also had failed get-rich-quick schemes and two arrests on suspicion of tax evasion.

However, Branson did not let these obstacles define him. Instead, he used them as opportunities for personal growth and development. He overcame his lack of formal education by developing extraordinary people skills and learning to trust his instincts.

Branson’s failures taught him valuable lessons. They pushed him to think outside the box and fueled his creativity. Through bold spirit and perseverance, he transformed his setbacks into stepping stones towards success.

Branson’s ability to overcome these challenges not only shaped his entrepreneurial journey but also inspired others to embrace obstacles as opportunities for personal growth and innovation.

Achievements and Successes

Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks, Branson’s accomplishments include being worth around $4.4 billion in 2008 and being ranked as the 236th richest person. He has made a significant impact on the hospitality industry through his ventures under the Virgin brand. Branson’s philanthropic efforts have also made a lasting impression.

Here are five key achievements and contributions:

Virgin Hotels: Branson established a chain of luxury hotels, providing unique experiences and exceptional customer service.

Necker Island: As a part of his hospitality ventures, Branson transformed a private island into an exclusive resort, showcasing his commitment to luxury and sustainability.

Virgin Voyages: Branson’s cruise line aims to revolutionize the industry by offering adults-only experiences and sustainability initiatives.

Giving Pledge: Branson joined this philanthropic initiative, pledging to donate at least half of his wealth to charitable causes.

Carbon War Room: Branson founded this organization to combat climate change by bringing together entrepreneurs and industry leaders.

Branson’s achievements in the hospitality industry and his dedication to making a positive impact have solidified his status as an innovative and influential entrepreneur.

Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Facing numerous obstacles and setbacks, aspiring entrepreneurs can benefit from Branson’s advice on embracing challenges, thinking creatively, and learning from mistakes.

Branson believes that obstacles and challenges are healthy for everyone, as they force thinking outside the box and encourage creativity. He emphasizes the importance of following through on a great idea and learning from past mistakes.

According to Branson, making a real difference in people’s lives is the key to success. He also stresses the significance of having a bold spirit and perseverance.

Branson’s own entrepreneurial journey has been filled with failures and calamities, such as cash-flow problems and legal battles, but he has overcome these challenges and achieved great success. His business strategy focuses on branded venture capitalism, empowering talent, and minimal financial risk.

For startups, Branson’s tips for overcoming challenges and achieving success are invaluable.

Lessons From Failure and Adversity

Overcoming challenges and setbacks is a key aspect of Branson’s journey as an entrepreneur. He has faced numerous obstacles throughout his career but has managed to turn these failures into opportunities. Here are five lessons we can learn from Branson’s ability to overcome obstacles and turn failures into opportunities:

Embrace failure as a learning experience: Branson sees failure as a stepping stone to success and encourages others to do the same.

Stay resilient and persevere: Branson’s ability to bounce back from setbacks is a testament to his resilience and determination.

Adapt and innovate: Branson is known for his ability to adapt to changing market conditions and constantly innovate.

Take calculated risks: Branson understands the importance of taking risks and believes that calculated risks can lead to great rewards.

Surround yourself with the right people: Branson believes in the power of teamwork and surrounds himself with talented individuals who can help him overcome challenges.

Business Strategy and Approach

Branson’s business strategy and approach involve branded venture capitalism, empowering talent, and fostering creativity across diverse companies.

With a focus on innovation, Branson believes in empowering talent to bring out their full potential and fostering creativity within his organizations. By providing shared resources and minimal financial risk, Branson encourages his teams to think outside the box and come up with groundbreaking ideas.

One of his most notable ventures is the expansion into space tourism with Virgin Galactic, which exemplifies his commitment to pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers.

Branson’s branded venture capitalism allows him to have control over a wide range of businesses, while still maintaining a cohesive brand identity.

His approach not only leads to financial success but also creates an environment that inspires and motivates individuals to reach their full potential and make a lasting impact in their respective industries.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did richard branson’s dyslexia impact his early struggles and setbacks.

Richard Branson’s dyslexia impacted his early struggles and setbacks by making reading and understanding difficult. However, he developed extraordinary people skills and learned to trust his instincts, which ultimately helped him overcome these challenges and achieve success.

What Are Some Specific Examples of Richard Branson’s Humanitarian and Environmental Efforts?

Richard Branson’s humanitarian efforts include supporting various charitable organizations and initiatives, such as Virgin Unite, which focuses on social and environmental issues. His environmental efforts involve promoting sustainable practices and investing in renewable energy ventures through the Virgin Group.

How Did Richard Branson Overcome His Lack of Formal Education and Become Successful?

Richard Branson overcame his lack of formal education and dyslexia’s impact through perseverance and a bold spirit. He developed extraordinary people skills and learned to trust his instincts, which paved the way for his success.

Can You Provide More Details About Richard Branson’s Arrests and Night in Jail?

Richard Branson’s night in jail was a setback in his entrepreneurial journey. Dyslexia made reading and understanding difficult, but it didn’t stop him from becoming successful. His arrests taught him resilience and the importance of learning from mistakes.

What Are Some Specific Challenges Richard Branson Faced in Starting Virgin Atlantic Airways?

Starting Virgin Atlantic Airways, Richard Branson faced challenges such as intense competition in the airline industry. However, his bold spirit and perseverance allowed him to overcome obstacles and establish a successful airline brand.

Why Richard Branson is so successful

Richard Branson founded his first business, Student magazine, after dropping out of high school at age 15.

He soon cofounded the Virgin record store, which then grew into a record label. After 10 years of great success, Branson left his business partners dumbfounded when he announced he wanted to branch into the airline industry.

Nearly 50 years later, Branson is the billionaire chair of the Virgin Group and has overseen approximately 500 companies, with his brand currently on somewhere between 200 and 300 of them.

It's his remarkable passion, vision, and leadership qualities that make him an "exponential entrepreneur," write serial tech entrepreneur and XPRIZE CEO Peter Diamandis and Flow Genome Project founder Steven Kotler in their new book, " Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World ."

Branson sits on the XPRIZE board, and Diamandis spoke with him for the book.

Drawing from Diamandis and Kotler's insight and an interview Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget held with Branson last fall , we've broken down the key elements to Branson's philosophy that has been behind the hundreds of businesses he's either created or helped develop.

He's a "fun junkie."

"Branson says to himself, 'if I have fun doing this, I assume other people have fun doing this,' so fun has become his filter for 'should I go into it?' and it's a great filter," Kotler says.

When he first told Virgin Music CEOs that he wanted to use a third of the company's profits to start an airline because it would be "fun," they weren't amused. But Branson wasn't being cheeky or trite. He's been able to have such a successful, rich, and long career because he's been enjoying himself.

"Fun is one of the most important — and underrated — ingredients in any successful venture. If you're not having fun, then it's probably time to call it quits and try something else," he writes in his book " The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership ."

He protects the downside.

"Superficially, I think it looks like entrepreneurs have a high tolerance for risk," Branson tells Diamandis in "Bold." "But, having said that, one of the most important phrases in my life is 'protect the downside.'"

Limiting possible losses before moving forward with a new business venture is a lesson his father taught him when he was 15, he writes in a LinkedIn post .

His dad would let him drop out of school to start a magazine, but only if he sold 4,000 pounds of advertising to cover printing and paper costs.

It's a strategy he repeated in 1984 when he went into the airline business with Virgin Atlantic. He was only able to convince his business partners at Virgin Records to agree to the deal after he got Boeing to agree to take back Virgin's one 747 jet after a year if the business wasn't operating as planned.

Diamandis and Kotler write that this strategy has allowed Branson to remain agile as an entrepreneur. Over the past five decades, Branson has, of course, experienced many failures, like Virgin Cola and Virgin Clothing.

But he "is quick to rapidly iterate his ideas, and quicker to shut down a failure," Diamandis and Kotler write. "In total, while Branson is known to have started some five hundred companies, he has also shut down the two hundred of them that didn't work."

He's customer-centric.

"Unless you're customer-centric, you might be able to create something wonderful, but you're not going to survive," Branson tells Diamandis. "It's about getting every little detail right."

Branson writes in "The Virgin Way" that even though it's impossible to be hands-on with all of his companies, he will occasionally play customer, experiencing a Virgin service as a consumer would. It's why he says he once called one of his company's customer service lines and disguised his voice, demanding to be put on the phone with Richard Branson — his test worked, and he was connected to his assistant, who saw through his disguise.

He tells the story for a laugh, but also to communicate the fact that regardless of whether you're running a startup or a massive conglomerate, you can't lose touch with your customer.

Branson also says he used to regularly cold call Virgin Atlantic business-class customers to ask about their experience, and h e writes down observations about his own experiences as a Virgin customer , such as when he noted that he and fellow Virgin America passengers didn't want a hot towel offered to them on a scorching Las Vegas day. He took that bit to management and had the policy changed to having cold towels offered on hot days.

He's a master delegater.

Branson may still kite-surf in his 60s, but he's not superhuman. He's constantly searching for new ways to expand the Virgin brand into "industries that are stuck or broken," as Diamandis and Kotler say, assured that the people he's surrounded himself with can make his ideas reality.

"The best bit of advice I think I can give to any manager of a company is find somebody better than yourself to do the day-to-day running," Branson tells Business Insider. "And then free yourself up to think about the bigger picture. By freeing myself up, I've been able to dream big and move Virgin forward into lots of different areas. And it's made for a fascinating life."

richard branson business model

Watch: Richard Branson Describes The Early Moment That Changed His Career Forever

richard branson business model

  • Main content

How Richard Branson turned his passion into a tangible business

Branson Launches Virgin Atlantic

Organizations are dealing with higher levels of uncertainty and deeper complexity than we’ve ever seen before. Not surprisingly, this changeable landscape is causing employees to act cautiously in order to keep their jobs. (After all, who wants to “rock the boat” or be blamed for a failed project?) While this reactive behavior makes logical sense, it’s also creating a major roadblock on the journey to innovation.

Innovation begins with either a passion or a problem. Passion means you’re motivated to innovate because you care deeply about something. For example, thanks to watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon as a child, Richard Branson became very interested in space and realized that he wanted to go there like Armstrong did. For decades, he asked questions, kept notebooks of ideas, talked to different people and worked hard to figure out a way for his passion to become a reality. With a long-term commitment borne by the head and heart, it’s no wonder that the stars lined up for Branson to start Virgin Galactic, transforming his passionate idea into a tangible business.

However, becoming that passionate about something is easier said than done in a world where employment is so tenuous and many of us are more motivated by the fear of losing our jobs than by making a difference through positive change. Here are three ways to do this:

Empathize with others

Counter-intuitively, one way to overcome that fear is to look outside of your own needs. Passions that lead to world-changing insights are rarely self-centered, navel-gazing activities. Instead they often focus on trying to make a positive impact for someone else. One of the fastest ways to spark instant motivation is to set up direct, personal contact with end-users of a product or service to better understand their needs.

Search for existing problems

The other significant starting point for innovation is paying more careful attention to an existing problem. Consider Salman Khan. In 2004, Khan, then a hedge fund analyst, heard his cousin in Louisiana was struggling with mathematics. He saw an opportunity to solve this problem by tutoring his cousin over the Internet using Yahoo!’s Doodle notepad. Soon, the demand from other family members and friends for similar lessons motivated him to move his tutorials to YouTube in 2006. Today, as the founder of the Khan Academy, a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a free world-class education to anyone, anywhere, Khan has more than 2,000 tutorials on YouTube, which are viewed around the world nearly 100,000 times a day.

The good news is that everyone has problems – whether professional or personal. Either way, if we care enough about the problem, we may become passionate about solving it.

Whether you are motivated by passion or a problem, make sure you are willing to fully invest in the idea before you begin your innovation journey. Deep persistence to making an idea happen is key – even though leaders must often make critical “ pivots” from initial plans to transform abstract ideas into powerful realities. Beware though that some leaders start out with great intentions, thinking they are passionate about a particular change initiative, but find themselves pulled away from the original idea into other directions – for all the wrong reasons. For example, some ideas get shut down fast by the ever spinning wheels of internal political dynamics.

Make a list

What can you do to find your passion or identify a problem that you care deeply about? Try making a list of the major challenges you currently face for which you don’t have an answer. Which of these is most deeply connected to your end users or clients? Which ones could make the biggest difference for the future of your company? Which ones spark any kind of emotion, either positive or negative? Deciding that a problem matters at a fundamental level requires a concrete choice about how you will use your time differently. So choose well to make sure it’s worth it.

When you uncover something that you care enough about to do something about it, then you’re at the perfect starting point for a powerful innovation journey. Once you get the energy and empathy juices flowing, you can get out of your comfort zone and start to make a difference.

Hal Gregersen is executive director of the MIT Leadership Center and a senior lecturer in leadership and innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is the author of The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators .

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Richard Branson

British entrepreneur Richard Branson launched Virgin Records in the early 1970s, eventually building his business into the multinational Virgin Group.

Richard Branson

Who Is Richard Branson?

Richard Branson struggled in school and dropped out at age 16 — a decision that ultimately led to the creation of Virgin Records. His entrepreneurial projects started in the music industry and expanded into other sectors, including the space-tourism venture Virgin Galactic, making him a billionaire. Branson is also known for his adventurous spirit and sporting achievements, including crossing oceans in a hot air balloon.

Young Entrepreneur

Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born on July 18, 1950, in Surrey, England. His father, Edward James Branson, worked as a barrister. His mother, Eve Branson, was employed as a flight attendant. Branson, who struggled with dyslexia, had a hard time with educational institutions. He nearly failed out of the all-boys Scaitcliffe School, which he attended until the age of 13. He then transferred to Stowe School, a boarding school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England.

Still struggling, Branson dropped out at the age of 16 to start a youth-culture magazine called Student . The publication, run by students, sold $8,000 worth of advertising in its first edition, launched in 1966. The first run of 50,000 copies was disseminated for free, with Branson afterward covering the costs through advertising.

By 1969, Branson was living in a London commune, surrounded by the British music and drug scene. It was during this time that Branson had the idea to begin a mail-order record company called Virgin to help fund his magazine efforts. The company performed modestly but well enough for Branson to expand his business venture, with a record shop on Oxford Street, London. With the success of the new store, the high school dropout was able to build a recording studio in 1972 in Oxfordshire, England.

Virgin Records

The first artist on the Virgin Records label, Mike Oldfield, recorded his single "Tubular Bells" in 1973 with the help of Branson's team. The song was an instant smash, staying on the UK charts for 247 weeks. Using the momentum of Oldfield's success, Branson then signed other aspiring musical groups to the label, including the Sex Pistols. Artists such as the Culture Club, the Rolling Stones and Genesis would follow, helping to make Virgin Music one of the top six record companies in the world.

Business Expansion

Branson expanded his entrepreneurial efforts yet again, this time to include the Voyager Group travel company in 1980, the Virgin Atlantic airline in 1984 and a series of Virgin Megastores. However, Branson's success was not always predictable, and by 1992, Virgin was suddenly struggling to stay financially afloat. The company was sold later that year to Thorn EMI for $1 billion.

Branson was crushed by the loss, reportedly crying after the contract was signed, but remained determined to stay in the music business. In 1993, he founded the station Virgin Radio, and in 1996 he started a second record company, V2, which signed artists such as Powder Finger and Tom Jones.

The Virgin Group eventually reached 35 countries around the world, with nearly 70,000 employees handling affairs in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Asia, Europe, South Africa and beyond. He has expanded his businesses to include a train company, a luxury game preserve, a mobile phone company and a space-tourism company, Virgin Galactic.

Branson is also known for his sporting achievements, notably the record-breaking Atlantic crossing in Virgin Atlantic Challenger II in 1986, and the first crossing by hot-air balloon of the Atlantic (1987) and Pacific (1991). He was knighted in 1999 for his contribution to entrepreneurship, and in 2009, he landed at No. 261 on Forbes ' "World Billionaires" list with his $2.5 billion in self-made fortune, including two private islands.

Virgin Galactic, Voyages and Hotels

In recent years, the ever-adventurous Branson has focused much of his attention on his space-tourism venture. He partnered with Scaled Composites to form The Spaceship Company, which set to work developing a suborbital spaceplane. In April 2013, the project made an impressive leap forward with the test launch of SpaceShipTwo .

Branson was delighted by the success of his spaceship's first test, telling NBC News that "We're absolutely delighted that it broke the sound barrier on its very first flight, and that everything went so smoothly." By April 2013, more than 500 people had reserved tickets to ride on a Virgin Galactic spaceship.

In 2015, Branson announced the launch of Virgin Voyages, a new cruise line. On October 31, 2017, the company commemorated the milestone of laying down the keel for its first ship. Virgin's cruise ships, designed to hold 2,800 guests and a crew of 1,150, remained on track to debut in 2020.

Additionally, the mogul moved forward with his upstart Virgin Hotels, founded in 2010. In 2018, Virgin announced its presence in Las Vegas by taking over ownership of the Hard Rock Hotel. The company planned to generally maintain the status quo in the hotel before embarking on renovations in 2019.

Personal Life

Branson is married to his second wife, Joan Templeman, with whom he has two children: Holly and Sam. He often stays at his residence on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, even remaining there while Hurricane Irma all but destroyed the island in September 2017.

QUICK FACTS

  • Name: Richard Branson
  • Birth Year: 1950
  • Birth date: July 18, 1950
  • Birth City: Surrey, England
  • Birth Country: United Kingdom
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: British entrepreneur Richard Branson launched Virgin Records in the early 1970s, eventually building his business into the multinational Virgin Group.
  • Journalism and Nonfiction
  • Business and Industry
  • Space Exploration
  • Astrological Sign: Cancer
  • Scaitcliffe School
  • Stowe School

CITATION INFORMATION

  • Article Title: Richard Branson Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/richard-branson
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: November 2, 2021
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
  • I believe in benevolent dictatorship, provided I am the dictator.
  • Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming.
  • You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

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Four leadership lessons from Richard Branson as he wins billionaire space race

Branson has made history by being the first billionaire to go into space.

Why You Should Care

This weekend British billionaire Richard Branson achieved his life-long dream of going into space.

He also beat Amazon's Jeff Bezos to the feat.

How did Branson's distinct leadership style help him win the billionaire space race?

HR leaders, don’t miss out: Join us in Las Vegas for free as a VIP guest at UNLEASH America.

Over the weekend, Sir Richard Branson made history. He became the first billionaire to go to the edge of space in his own spacecraft, beating Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to this feat by a mere nine days.

Branson has joined the crew of his company Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22 on its mission from New Mexico to stratosphere, the Earth’s upper atmosphere. He didn;t pass the Kármán Line, which is the point 62 miles above Earth that is officially considered the beginning of space.

On board, Branson called reaching zero gravity and the edge of space “the experience of a lifetime”, according to the Financial Times .

Branson has been talking – and competing with Bezos – about space tourism and commercial space flights since the early 2000s. While onboard the flight, Branson added: “Congratulations to all our wonderful people at Virgin Galactic and their 17 years of hard, hard work to get us this far.”

The billionaire is believed to spent more than $1 billion of his own personal fortune on Virgin Galactic; according to Forbes, Branson is worth $5.9 billion.

Despite all the hurdles, including an accident in 2014 where a test pilot was killed when a spaceship broke apart, Branson has stayed laser focused and continued to lead and motivate the team at Virgin Galactic to achieve this mission in 2021.

He, as well as Bezos and Space X’s Elon Musk, have also encouraged a lot more investment, particularly through SPACs into space tech startups , such as Planet Labs, Satellogic, Rocket Lab and Spire Global.

So what can leaders in any industry learn from Branson’s distinctive leadership style that has enabled his impressive business success (including this breakthrough spaceflight) over the past five decades?

1. Being a visionary leader with ideas and values

When he was his 20s in the 1970s, Branson founded the Virgin Group. The company started with Virgin Records, and quickly moved into the transport sector with airline Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Rail in the 1980s and 1990s.

Since the 2000s Virgin has also dominated the telecommunications sector through Virgin Media, and then Branson turned his sights on space travel and tourism from 2004, as well as other sectors like the rewards through Virgin Experience Days and fitness through Virgin Active.

It almost feels like Branson and Virgin have touched pretty much every sector out there in some way and a major backbone behind the 400 companies that now make up the Virgin Group is Branson’s vision and values.

In a 2014 interview with Forbes , he noted:

“The Virgin values have and will always be the same: to change the game and challenge the status quo by providing a product or service of great use.”

Branson adds in a recent blog about his trip to the edge of space: “We’ve always prided ourselves at Virgin for being able to adapt to business needs, while keeping our team and our customers at the heart of what we do.

“It’s amazing where an idea can lead you, no matter how far-fetched it may seem at first.”

Branson is very clear that the principle is that Virgin doesn’t research its competition, but instead aims to be a force for good and focus on what is missing in the markets it operates in, whether that is space, telecomms or transport.

Of course, the company doesn’t always hit the mark – just think about the debacle around the 2018 bail out of Virgin Trains and its partner firm StageCoach – but that remains Branson’s mission with Virgin.

2. Finding the right talent and delegating is key

However, another central part of Branson’s values is to be a democratic and collaboration leader who brings in experts to delegate responsibility to.

He has been quoted as saying: “As much as you need a strong personality to build a business from scratch, you also must understand the art of delegation.

He has previously told the Telegraph: “I have always believed in the art of delegation finding the best possible people for Virgin and giving them the freedom and encouragement to flourish.

“If you are not always there, it forces other people to call the shots, which in turn improves their own leadership skills, builds their confidence and strengthens your business.”

He has also stated: “I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me.”

However, in order to do this, Branson involves himself in the hiring process for executives and managers at Virgin, particularly since he believes that his charisma and passion for what he is doing is what helps him find others who are committed to the company’s missions.

He specifically likes to hire where he knows he has weaknesses to ensure that his top team has complementary expertise and skills. He priorities personality rather then CV or qualifications in hiring, and notes that inter-personal skills are incredibly important.

“A person who has multiple degrees in your field isn’t always better than someone with broad experience and a wonderful personality,” noted Branson.

3. Value and empower your people

At our very own UNLEASH World Conference & Expo in Paris in 2015 Branson told how he treats his team like family . Speaking to UNLEASH CEO Marc Coleman he revealed his do-to lists, including tactics for recruitment, unlimited leave and attention to detail.

“I like to recruit and promote from within the company, you know their strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “And I like to find people who are good with people. If you promote people who aren’t good with people it can destroy a business. Caring matters.”

He added: “Employees want to know… am I being listened to or am I a cog in the wheel? People really need to feel wanted.”

Ultimately, employees and new hires want to feel listened to and learned from in their area of expertise – not just from Branson, but also from line mangers and the rest of the executive team – which is why listening and learning are two of Branson’s top leadership principles.

The third is laughter; being passionate about and enjoying what you do is fundamental to Branson. Remember, having a positive company culture , where employees are enjoying their work and feel valued is good for productivity and the business’s bottom line.

He adds: “A passionate belief in your business and personal objectives can make all the difference between success and failure. If you aren’t proud of what you’re doing, why should anybody else be?”

4. Making mistakes is OK, if you learn from them

Branson is very keen to praise people for doing good work, rather than criticize people for struggling. He believes that being positive is better for innovation and creativity.

Therefore, he really emphasized that himself and Virgin employees learn best from actions and running with ideas. If these ideas then fail, then that is fine if you learn from the mistake.

One example is in 1987 Branson and a business partner Per Lindstrand decided to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot air balloon known as the Virgin Atlantic Flyer as part of a world record attempt.

Although this balloon, which Lindstrand designed, did cross the Atlantic successfully, both Branson and Lindstrand had to jump sea as the balloon was likely to miss its Scottish landing site. Lindstrand almost died– he spent two hours in the sea before being rescued by the Royal Navy.

Branson learnt from the experience and the pair successfully crossed the Pacific Ocean in a hot air balloon in 1991.

Although he rewards people for making decisions, Branson has noted: “You don’t learn to walk by following rules.

“You learn by doing, and by falling over, and it’s because you fall over that you learn to save yourself from falling over.”

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Here's a breakdown of the philosophy Richard Branson used to start over 400 companies in the Virgin Group

richard branson

Chris Jackson/Getty

Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson takes fun very seriously.

He soon cofounded the Virgin record store, which then grew into a record label. After 10 years of great success, Branson left his business partners dumbfounded when he announced he wanted to branch into the airline industry.

Nearly 50 years later, Branson is the billionaire chair of the Virgin Group and has overseen approximately 500 companies, with his brand currently on somewhere between 200 and 300 of them.

It's his remarkable passion, vision, and leadership qualities that make him an "exponential entrepreneur," write serial tech entrepreneur and XPRIZE CEO Peter Diamandis and Flow Genome Project founder Steven Kotler in their new book, " Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World ."

Branson sits on the XPRIZE board, and Diamandis spoke with him for the book.

Drawing from Diamandis and Kotler's insight and an interview Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget held with Branson last fall , we've broken down the key elements to Branson's philosophy that has been behind the hundreds of businesses he's either created or helped develop.

Be a "fun junkie."

"Branson says to himself, 'if I have fun doing this, I assume other people have fun doing this,' so fun has become his filter for 'should I go into it?' and it's a great filter," Kotler says.

When he first told Virgin Music CEOs that he wanted to use a third of the company's profits to start an airline because it would be "fun," they weren't amused. But Branson wasn't being cheeky or trite. He's been able to have such a successful, rich, and long career because he's been enjoying himself.

"Fun is one of the most important - and underrated - ingredients in any successful venture. If you're not having fun, then it's probably time to call it quits and try something else," he writes in his book " The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership ."

Protect the downside.

"Superficially, I think it looks like entrepreneurs have a high tolerance for risk," Branson tells Diamandis in "Bold." "But, having said that, one of the most important phrases in my life is 'protect the downside.'"

Limiting possible losses before moving forward with a new business venture is a lesson his father taught him when he was 15, he writes in a LinkedIn post .

His dad would let him drop out of school to start a magazine, but only if he sold 4,000 pounds of advertising to cover printing and paper costs.

It's a strategy he repeated in 1984 when he went into the airline business with Virgin Atlantic. He was only able to convince his business partners at Virgin Records to agree to the deal after he got Boeing to agree to take back Virgin's one 747 jet after a year if the business wasn't operating as planned.

richard branson writing

Virgin Group

Richard Branson says being an avid note taker has helped him to improve customer experiences across his companies.

Diamandis and Kotler write that this strategy has allowed Branson to remain agile as an entrepreneur. Over the past five decades, Branson has, of course, experienced many failures, like Virgin Cola and Virgin Clothing.

But he "is quick to rapidly iterate his ideas, and quicker to shut down a failure," Diamandis and Kotler write. "In total, while Branson is known to have started some five hundred companies, he has also shut down the two hundred of them that didn't work."

Be customer-centric.

"Unless you're customer-centric, you might be able to create something wonderful, but you're not going to survive," Branson tells Diamandis. "It's about getting every little detail right."

Branson writes in "The Virgin Way" that even though it's impossible to be hands-on with all of his companies, he will occasionally play customer, experiencing a Virgin service as a consumer would. It's why he says he once called one of his company's customer service lines and disguised his voice, demanding to be put on the phone with Richard Branson - his test worked, and he was connected to his assistant, who saw through his disguise.

He tells the story for a laugh, but also to communicate the fact that regardless of whether you're running a startup or a massive conglomerate, you can't lose touch with your customer.

Branson also says he used to regularly cold call Virgin Atlantic business-class customers to ask about their experience, and h e writes down observations about his own experiences as a Virgin customer , such as when he noted that he and fellow Virgin America passengers didn't want a hot towel offered to them on a scorching Las Vegas day. He took that bit to management and had the policy changed to having cold towels offered on hot days.

Branson may still kite-surf in his 60s, but he's not superhuman. He's constantly searching for new ways to expand the Virgin brand into "industries that are stuck or broken," as Diamandis and Kotler say, assured that the people he's surrounded himself with can make his ideas reality.

"The best bit of advice I think I can give to any manager of a company is find somebody better than yourself to do the day-to-day running," Branson tells Business Insider. "And then free yourself up to think about the bigger picture. By freeing myself up, I've been able to dream big and move Virgin forward into lots of different areas. And it's made for a fascinating life."

NOW WATCH: Richard Branson Describes The Early Moment That Changed His Career Forever

richard branson business model

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Here's a breakdown of the philosophy Richard Branson used to start over 400 companies in the Virgin Group

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richard branson business model

Richard Branson's Business Strategy: Proper Risk Taking

By Alan Gehringer

Richard-Branson-Risk-Taking.jpg

Strategies for Growth

Richard-Branson-Risk-Taking.jpg

Know the Business  

Sir Richard believes that the biggest risk you can take is to invest money in a business you do not know. Most of the businesses they have gotten involved with have some relation to the core business they started in. Take Virgin Records which began as an online retailer, then record stores, next record production, that moved into signing acts, on to setting up a music publishing company. This then led to recording and a recording studio, video, distribution and the integration goes on. This is what we know as vertical integration, although he calls it common sense. Listening to your customers and finding new ways to add value is a great approach to vertical integration and a good way to gain wallet/market share. It also increases the chances for success and economy of scale. 

“So, behind the Richard Branson ”whizzkid, entrepreneur” – image, there lies – I believe – measured growth from the initial business of mail order through the core of the Virgin Group as it is today.”

Get Involved, Don’t Stand Back

Manage your risk by rolling up your sleeves and personally immersing yourself in the new venture until you get it up and running. This requires you to build a strong team that can run the existing businesses as you dive deep into the new one. Do not depend on others to do the diversification and take the risks, depend on them to do the jobs they know and are good at. I have an example of this in my personal life. When I was running my family business, I researched and invested a half million dollars in new technology to change the way one part of the business made product. I relied on the experts and outside consultants to get the new technology up and running. I was not successful until months later when I completely immersed myself and committed everything I had to making it successful. I remember one of the partners telling me it’s going to take you to make this work, and he was right! 

Be Prepared to Fail and Walk Away by Avoiding Psychological Commitments

Avoid commitments and plans that push you to invest to fast. Learn and adjust as you get started. We call this testing the assumptions on your winning moves . The same applies to a startup. Take what you learn and move forward if things look right, but have the courage to walk away or kill the idea if it is not what you thought it was going to be. There are plenty of deals and opportunities in front of you.

Richard Branson tells the story that part of what formed him early on is that when he was four years old, his mother dropped him off a few miles from his home and made him find his way back. This experience was intended - and apparently worked - to make him the independent individual he is. 

Limiting the Downside  

Set up the structure of a new business with people whose future rests on their performance. This may mean a small salary with a large upside in bonus or ownership options. This keeps people very focused and committed to making the new venture successful. Try to set up the financing so that it does not detract from the established businesses but is based on the assets or performance of the new business. Start small and build as you experience success. Virgin would invest in new artists, but not film, because they could test and see if they made the right decision before committing additional dollars into the project. Jim Collins calls this firing bullets before firing cannons so you can retain your capital while you are in the development stage. Another way to limit the downside is to look for joint ventures with outside investors. There is a very successful group of investors in my home town that consists of ten individuals that are always looking for a piece of the next deal. They are all very successful entrepreneurs but have realized it is easier to take the risk with others than to go it alone. I think it is probably a lot more fun, too!

Plan your escape route at the beginning in the event you do need to exit the new venture. If you realize the investment is not panning out, the worst thing to do is keep burning cash. Set up buy back strategies with equipment vendors at the start with parameters that are beneficial to both parties. Set targets that are a stretch but still realistic. Have the courage to pull the plug and protect your other assets if new business is not panning out. I have seen too many startups bring down the mother ship unnecessarily.

Keep it Small and Keep It Cheap

Limit your overhead and size of the organization. Do not be too fast to build a large team while you are getting started. Look for inexpensive or in-kind office space and have positions that make sense work virtually . Stick to the basics, remember why you are getting into the business and keep in touch with and focused on the customer. As Peter Drucker says, without the customer there is no business. Empower the team you assembled to own the results and give them the opportunity to be true entrepreneurs. Outsource all that you can and focus on the core of what makes the new business unique and valuable to the customer.

The last point Richard Branson makes is “ Go for It !”  Do not be afraid to take risks and put in the personal energy and commitment needed to be successful.

Good luck and please share your thoughts and learnings, Alan

One page strategic plan

Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images 

Alan Gehringer

Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images

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Richard Branson: A Transformational and Charismatic Leader

June 19, 2020 by Derrick Diksa

What is a transformational leader?  Northouse defines this type of leader as one that explicitly allows their followers to drive change (p. 175).  A goal of these types of leaders is to raise the conscious of their followers, putting aside their own self-interests, in order to achieve great things for others (Northouse, 2016, p. 175).  A transformational leader also requires them to make explicitly clear expectations regarding values and norms of the organization they work for (p. 176).  They need to create vision and stay steady on that road to change.  A characteristic of these transformational leaders is charisma and these “leaders are by definition agents of change”, (Kets De Vries, 1998, p. 8).  Some examples of this are not being satisfied with the status quo, energetic, results and action oriented, they search for new opportunities at every corner, and can provide a clear vision while making sure their followers know this vision is within reach, (p. 8).  There is one leader that comes to mind when we define a transformational leader in these terms: Richard Branson.  The following paragraphs will focus on his own characteristics of being a transformational leader and a charismatic leader,

Richard Branson was never your normal adolescent – he had a vision from day one to shake things up.  He dropped out of a private all boys school to peruse other interests at an early age (Kets De Vries, 1998, p. 8).  Transformational leadership’s goal to transform people being concerned with “emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals”, (Northouse, 2016, p. 161).  Branson’s own personal philosophy fits this almost to a T: “”Life is short, one has to make the most of it. Do things that you like. If your work and your hobby are the same, you will work long hours because you are motivated,” (Kets De Vries, 1998, p. 9).  This is relevant because Branson’s philosophy is one, he brings to his employees – empowering them to come to him with new ides (directly to him, the CEO) without the fear of being shot down.  He treats employees as humans in this way by allowing their creative juices to flow no matter what part of the business or what business they are working in.  How empowering would it be to know you could go directly to the top of the organization to give your opinion directly to the CEO without fear of repercussion?  He is also quoted as saying “people are out greatest assets,” and his overall maxim is “staff first, customers second, and shareholders third” (article p. 9).  It is such a simple concept but it makes complete sense – happy employees give better service, are more driven, and will do what is right which leads to happy customers which lead to shareholder profit.  How can Richard Branson accomplish this type of philosophy as a transformational leader?  Charisma.

A “charismatic leader acts in unique ways that have specific charismatic effects on their followers”, (Northouse, 2016, p. 164).  Richard Branson is well known for going outside the box with his thinking.  For instance, Virgin does not have formal board meetings nor committees (Kets De Vries, 1998, p. 10).  He encourages his employees to bring ideas right to him to cut the waste of numerous vetting meetings, things going up the grape vine, and eventually landing on his desk for review.  His approach cuts down a lot of the red tape you see with companies and allows for idea creation to be on the top of the mind of the employees.  Another trait of a charismatic leader is being there for their employees in times of stress and pain where these followers look towards their leader to get them out of the tough times (Northouse, 2016, p. 165).  Branson’s philosophy regarding this is “if you can motivate your people, use their creative potential, you can get through bad times and you can enjoy the good times together”, (Kets De Vries, 1998, p. 9).  A third trait of a charismatic leader is pushing their employees to their fullest potential (Northouse, 2016, p. 164).  One example of Branson doing this is with his record company.  He would go to the assistant director or the assist marketing manager and task them to start up a new operation (Kets De Vries, 1998, p. 10).  Completely skipping over the most qualified individuals, the head director or the head of marketing, he instead challenges those in assistant roles to start something of their own by allowing them the opportunity to grow themselves.  This is relevant to a charismatic leader because is a core component of the definition – he takes less talented folks (maybe only on paper) and gives them a chance to shine which allows them to be able to have an opportunity to make great changes, the core of a transformational leader.

Richard Branson has always had a vision for himself and deep-rooted morals.  When he began Virgin Enterprises, he brought that vision to his people by articulating it clearly.  He also treats his employees as humans by allowing theme to come directly to him with their ides and concerns.  He motivates his employees by challenging them to do things outside their comfort zone.  His company is et up in a unique way that has specific effects on his followers.  He communicates high expectations and shows strong confidence in their abilities.  In short, he places high value on intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic rewards which is summarized in his company’s philosophy: happy employees = happy customers = happy shareholders.

Kets de Vries, M. F. (1998). Charisma in Action: The Transformational Abilities Of Virgin’s Richard Branso And ABB’s Percy Barnevik. Retrieved June 19, 2020, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.467.3374&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Northouse, P. G. (2016).  Leadership: theory and practice . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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June 20, 2020 at 10:24 am

Richard Branson sounds like a great guy. Have you ever had the opportunity to meet and speak with him? I have heard of his name before but didn’t know what he did. I found out that he founded the Virgin group and employs almost 70,000 people throughout 35 countries (Norris, 2020). That sure is a lot of people to have come straight up to him and share their ideas. For him to get to where he is today, he must be a very good listener to be able to have the type of insight that he does. It is impressive to see the amount of companies that he has owned. He either owned or now owns multiple airlines, wireless communications, radio stations, hotels, health clubs, financial services businesses, the nightclub Heaven, renewable technologies, a Formula One team and even a space tourism company with a net worth of around $4 billion (Norris, 2020). Taking a look at his career path, he went through a lot to get where he is now. It was a bumpy road with many curve balls that he ran into. Transformational and Charismatic are definitely great ways to describe the type of leader he is. You can’t argue that he isn’t a hard worker nor that he is selfish. In fact, Great Britain held a poll as to who would be the country’s choice for a celebrity boss. Richard Branson finished first while Barack Obama finished in a close second (Cancer Research, 2009). A transformational leader is what it would take to take a brand new company, like Virgin, and direct inexperienced employees down the right path. With the high number of employees, he would have needed many leaders that shared the same views/beliefs as him. He would’ve taught them his vision of the company and they empowered those leaders to develop their subordinates. With Virgin being a new, very small company that was just starting out, it would’ve took a leader that would be right beside his employees during the stressful times. Along with teaching his team how to handle the large amounts of stress, he needed to keep everyone positive. Just like you mentioned, his charisma is what was able to keep the momentum going and his team motivated. Of course he was working extremely long hours throughout the entire week with his ‘open door’ policy. I would assume that Branson saw the importance of showing his employees that he had confidence in them and letting them know that he valued their opinions. It gave him the amazing reputation that he has today and has made almost 70,000 individuals feel respected.

References Cancer Research. (10 August 2009). Branson beats Obama as celebrity dream boss. Retrieved on 20 June 2020 from https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/press-release/2009-08-10-branson-beats-obama-as-celebrity-dream-boss Norris, Emily. (27 Jan 2020). How Did Richard Branson Make His Fortune? Retrieved on 20 June 2020 from https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/032615/how-did-richard-branson-make-his-fortune.asp

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Richard Branson and Oppenheimer's grandson urge action to stop AI and climate 'catastrophe'

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  • Billionaire Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Charles Oppenheimer, J. Robert Oppenheimer's grandson, are among names calling for action to address escalating risks surrounding the climate crisis, pandemics, nuclear weapons and AI.
  • They signed an open letter released Thursday by The Elders, a nongovernmental organization set up by former South African President Nelson Mandela and Branson to address global human rights issues.
  • Future of Life Institute founder Max Tegmark, one of the signatories, told CNBC that, while not in and of itself "evil," the technology remains a "tool" that could lead to some dire consequences, if it is left to advance rapidly in the hands of the wrong people.

Dozens of high-profile figures in business and politics are calling on world leaders to address the existential risks of artificial intelligence and the climate crisis.

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson , along with former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Charles Oppenheimer — the grandson of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer — signed an open letter urging action against the escalating dangers of the climate crisis, pandemics, nuclear weapons and ungoverned AI.

The message asks world leaders to embrace a long-view strategy and a "determination to resolve intractable problems, not just manage them, the wisdom to make decisions based on scientific evidence and reason, and the humility to listen to all those affected."

"Our world is in grave danger. We face a set of threats that put all humanity at risk. Our leaders are not responding with the wisdom and urgency required," the letter, which was published Thursday and shared with global governments, according to a spokesperson, said.

"The impact of these threats is already being seen: a rapidly changing climate, a pandemic that killed millions and cost trillions, wars in which the use of nuclear weapons has been openly raised," "There could be worse to come. Some of these threats jeopardise the very existence of life on earth."

Signatories called for urgent multilateral action, including through financing the transition away from fossil fuels, signing an equitable pandemic treaty, restarting nuclear arms talks and building global governance needed to make AI a force for good.

The letter was released Thursday by The Elders, a nongovernmental organization that was launched by former South African President Nelson Mandela and Branson to address global human rights issues and advocate for world peace.

The message is also backed by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit organization set up by MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark and Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, which aims to steer transformative technology like AI toward benefiting life and away from large-scale risks.

Fiserv CEO: We are focused on how we use AI to help our clients run their businesses better

Tegmark said The Elders and his organization wanted to convey that, while not in and of itself "evil," the technology remains a "tool" that could lead to some dire consequences, if it is left to advance rapidly in the hands of the wrong people.

"The old strategy for steering toward good uses [when it comes to new technology] has always been learning from mistakes," Tegmark told CNBC in an interview. "We invented fire, then later we invented the fire extinguisher. We invented the car, then we learned from our mistakes and invented the seatbelt and the traffic lights and speed limits."

'Safety engineering'

"But when the power of the technology crosses a threshold, the 'learning-from-mistakes' strategy becomes awful," Tegmark added

"As a nerd myself, I think of it as safety engineering. When we sent people to the moon, we carefully thought through all the things that could go wrong when putting people on explosive fuel tanks and sending them where no one could help them. And that's why it ultimately went well."

He went on to say: "That wasn't 'doomerism.' That was safety engineering. And we need this kind of safety engineering for our future also, with nuclear weapons, with synthetic biology, with ever more powerful AI."

The letter was issued ahead of the Munich Security Conference, where government officials, military leaders and diplomats will discuss international security amid escalating global armed conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars. Tegmark will be attending the event to advocate the message of the letter.

The Future of Life Institute last year also released an open letter backed by leading figures including Tesla boss Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, which called on AI labs like OpenAI to pause work on training AI models that are more powerful than GPT-4 — currently the most advanced AI model from Sam Altman's OpenAI.

The technologists called for such a pause in AI development to avoid a "loss of control" of civilization, which might result in a mass wipeout of jobs and an outsmarting of humans by computers.

Correction: Ban Ki-moon is a former secretary-general of the U.N. An earlier version misstated his title.

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Richard Branson: The best way to engage employees

Sir Richard Branson sits in an armchair looking deep in thought with his chin resting on his hand. He is wearing a light blue, casual button down shirt

Whether you’re a first time entrepreneur or an experienced business leader, getting the best out of your employees and getting them to engage with the business can be tricky at times. Here the Virgin Group founder shares his top tips...

"There’s no secret formula for entrepreneurial success, but I tell everyone who is starting out in business that they must put purpose and passion at the heart of their plans. We spend about 80 per cent of our waking lives at work, so it’s important that we do what we love and love what we do," writes Richard Branson in a recent blog .

"But it’s also important that you figure out a way to turn what you love doing into something that benefits others. This will align your business better with the needs of your customers, as well as give you a competitive edge."

Purpose is something which has been given a lot of airtime as of late, but how does it actually benefit your business? For the Virgin Group it’s a key tool in getting the best out of employees, as Richard Branson explains.

"Purposeful businesses also have, in general, significantly higher rates of employee engagement, retention and productivity. And while you might not be in a position to employ people just yet, it’s important to think about structuring your business with purpose at its core, as this will improve your future prospects.

"Once you’ve created a business that offers a product or service that truly resonates with customers, you’ll need to hire people to help grow the enterprise. Seek out people who understand your passion, want to add to your ideas and can envision ways to make improvements."

When it comes to finding those people, Branson offers up a couple key factors that you need to take into consideration when starting the search.

"Focus in particular on people who have strong views on how to scale up your business. But make sure that they have the skills and presence of mind to push the company forward in the short term and the ability to manage crucial day-to-day tasks. Most importantly, hire people who you’ll feel comfortable delegating to. That will give you more time to get out there and discover new ways of thinking and new places to take your business.

"Modern entrepreneurship - in particular, the creation of businesses driven by an equal concern for people, profit and the planet - is an inclusive and sustainable path for economic stability. What’s more, new businesses support productive and empowered employees."

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Richard Branson Signs Open Letter Calling to 'Make AI a Force for Good' The letter was published by The Elders and the Future of Life Institute on Thursday and signed by actress Cate Blanchett and Jaan Tallinn (co-founder of Skype).

By Emily Rella • Feb 15, 2024

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson has joined the ranks of high-profile business people calling for regulation and caution when using and advancing AI technology.

On Thursday, the Elders ( a group of "independent global leaders working together for peace, justice, human rights, and a sustainable planet") and the Future of Life Institute published an open letter saying that the use of AI without governing its existence could be a threat to humanity and world peace.

"Governments can get to work now to agree how to finance the transition to a safe and healthy future … and start to build the global governance needed to make AI a force for good, not a runaway risk," the letter reads .

Related: Richard Branson Says When Starting a Business Focus on This One Thing Instead of Money

The letter was co-signed by several world leaders and celebrities, including Max Tegmark (President of the Future of Life Institute), actress Cate Blanchett, and Jaan Tallinn (co-founder of Skype).

Though Branson is calling for regulation of AI, he has long since been a fan of the technology. Last April, the Virgin Group launched a campaign with Made by Dyslexia to show the possibilities if AI were to implement dyslexic thinking patterns in its technology.

"The rise of AI is truly remarkable. It is transforming the way we work, live, and interact with each other, and with so many other touchpoints of our lives," Branson penned in the April 2023 letter . "However, while AI aggregates, dyslexic thinking skills innovate. If used in the right way, AI could be the perfect co-pilot for dyslexics to really move the world forward."

Thursday's follows one of a similar nature published last March by the Future of Life Institute that called for a halt to the potentially dangerous advancement of AI technology that could compete with human brainpower. That letter was co-signed by Elon Musk, who had previously opposed the advancement of AI technology before launching his own AI chatbot, Grok, on X.

Related: How to Use AI in an Ethical Way

"Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?" the letter said . "If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium."

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