Entrepreneurship is like painting: Interview of Richard Branson

Here is the bullet point take away from the 40 min rendezvous with Sir Richard Branson.

• Entrepreneurship is an art. Painting on a huge canvas, filling up the blanks and combining the bits and pieces. Similar thought was expressed by Mohammad Yunus recently. He said there is no legal relationship among the different concerns named as Grameen and founded by him. He just had to build different ventures to fill the gaps. And here Richard founded 300+ businesses under Virgin group to fill in the blanks on his canvas. A ‘wow’ is even an under statement!
• Entrepreneurs are not managers, save Steve Jobs. Entrepreneurs should be good at delegation, and move on to grabbing the next opportunity.
• The cheapest way of promotion is to make sure you have a good product to talk about.
• The inspiring way of promotion is the Chairman to talk about the product from the forefront! Who does it better than Richard Branson and Steve Jobs?
• It is an easier and faster way of knowing people in a fun environment than in formal meetings. Joe Polish mentioned form Peter Drucker: “Either you are working, or you are in meeting.” That’s bold! Richard said that he makes sure his employees have fun in work and after. By the way “don’t drink and fly a plane” rule applies to Virgin Airlines, too. No wonder!
• Creating business is one of the best ways to solve problems in the modern world. So do think Mohamamd Yunus (Social Business and Creating World without Poverty) and NR Narayana Murthy (A better India: A Better World). For some of the issues, however, business might not work. That’s where Virgin Unite plays role for Richard. For Yunus Social Business works.
• Prepare for the worst. That’s the most common preparations startups fail to make. 8 out of 10 fails, remember? Keep and exit strategy handy. Be flexible to sway from your initial plan.
• Use modern communication to stay close to your dear ones. That means, stay close physically to your family, and stay connected to your business using technology; as much as is practical. That’s the secret recipe form Richard for work-life balancing.

That’s it! It meant to be bullet point, right?

In case you are hungry for more, go ahead watch the the full video. You might have a different set of take away. If you do, share them on the comment box.

Richard Branson with Marie Forleo, Joe Polish and Yanik Silver on Necker Island talking about entrepreneurship at large.