Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography

by Richard Branson

  “We can’t have it too regularly, though,” I whispered to Jean. “I want to fund all of these ideas—but I’ll soon be bankrupt!”

  In July 2017 we gathered again, on Necker this time. Quite unbelievably, it even surpassed the first event.

  Seven projects got pledges of support. Sightsavers, whose challenge is to eliminate trauchoma (an absolutely horrible blindness that affects millions in Africa), asked for $50 million, so they could use that pledge to raise another $100 million from governments. They felt they could eliminate trauchoma in sixteen countries, do 480,000 surgeries and cure 2.6 million active infections.

  Two other wonderful organizations, Living Goods and Last Mile Health, wanted to take on 75,000 female community healthcare workers, to provide on-call home help to over 50 million people in Africa over four years. Using mobile telephony and a smart health app, these women will be able to diagnose and treat deadly diseases that are entirely treatable. Child deaths alone will be reduced by 25 percent.

  The Bronx Defenders Bail Project is yet another wonderful organization that presented. Rich people in the US can afford bail, poor people can’t. So they go to prison whether they are guilty or not. Bronx Defenders asked the Audacious Ideas group to put up a sum of money that could be used to help people pay for their bail. They believed they could help 160,000 people over five years, many of whom are innocent.

  Methane leaks do far more damage than carbon dioxide leaks. EDF wanted to launch a satellite to alert people to where those leaks are happening so the oil and gas industry can be made to stop them.

  GirlTrek wanted to recruit and train an army of 10,000 health activists in the States. The goal is to get one million black women walking regularly in the US, a solution to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. The project will also have multiple long-term benefits, revitalizing communities and promoting healthier and safer neighbourhoods.

  An idea for free online educational degrees for 50,000 refugees was also well supported, as was an exploration plan for the Twilight Zone, the vast midwater layer of the deep ocean between 200 meters and 1,000 meters below the surface. This is currently a largely unexplored ecosystem and it may contain more fish resources than all other fisheries combined, with massive implications in sustaining the rest of the ocean. Norway among other countries has recently issued permits to fish these waters. Therefore, there is now a rush to explore this area before it is too late. Scientists, conservationists, policy makers and the public will be able to use the data from this research to understand these waters.

  In just three days on Necker, well over $200 million was pledged, which when leveraged up with matching funds from government overseas development organizations, should equate to half a billion dollars. The money is going to organizations and entrepreneurial people who have been incredibly closely vetted. It will save numerous lives, avert numerous illnesses, prevent hundreds of thousands of people from unnecessarily becoming blind, cure many who are blind, help in the fight against climate change, keep many poor and innocent people out of prison, help protect the ocean and empower black women in America. Although, as the host, I had to step forward more than I had budgeted for, it couldn’t have been money better spent. We abided by the Necker rule—work hard in the day, play and get to know each other in the afternoon and evenings—and it had worked.

  Paolo Nutini, Joan’s favorite singer, was good enough to fly out to entertain everyone on the last night. We all danced into the night and everyone left the next day with the biggest smiles on their faces. After all those years of working hard to make money, for everyone there, giving was even more satisfying. How wonderful that all of our teams, such as the TED team, our Necker and Moskito staff and all the Virgin employees who work so hard, can feel they have made such a transformative difference, too.

  From the original New Year’s Eve pledge, a lot of positive things came out of Audacious Ideas in a very short time. After the event I reflected on what had made it so special. I thought about the nature of ideas, and, looking up at my bookshelf at the Temple, was reminded of John Steinbeck’s wonderful thought: “You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” Ideas can be dazzling, indefinable and mysterious; they can strike at any moment, and can change the world. But they only change the world if they can be honed down into something understandable, relatable and definable—while not losing that little piece of magic that made them a great idea in the first place. They need the right setting, the right timing and the right people to turn them into reality.

  —

  Echoing John Steinbeck’s wise words, this was a period when business ideas and opportunities seemed to be coming in thick and fast. Some of these were new; others were the coming together of plans we’d had for years.

  One of my biggest business regrets at the start of the new millennium had been the failure of Virgin Rail to be awarded the franchise to run the East Coast train line. We had first missed out on the franchise back in March 2000. After our bid was shortlisted, the Strategic Rail Authority decided to cancel the refranchising process and extend GNER’s contract. We tried again in 2004 but lost out to GNER once more. When GNER got into financial trouble in 2007, the tender came up again, and this time I was convinced we would win it. Instead, a recklessly high bid from National Express usurped us. It seemed we would never win the franchise, despite repeatedly making what we believed were the most financially robust, innovative and reliable bids.

  Finally, in January 2014 the tender was made available again. We formulated a joint bid with our long-term partners Stagecoach and were shortlisted. In November, at long last, we secured the East Coast route. I felt it was fifteen years too late, and we could have revolutionized the route the way we had on the West Coast long ago. But at least we have the opportunity now. On 1 March 2015, we began running the eight-year-long franchise, and started investing more than £140 million in improving the service. It operates as a separate venture to Virgin Rail on the West Coast, but the two work extremely closely together to create a great customer experience.

  While in Newcastle, I went to Virgin Money’s headquarters to celebrate twenty years of the business, catching up with many people who have been with us from day one. We talked a lot about the spirit of innovation the team has cultivated. I was shocked to learn that over a quarter of adults within the North East have a great idea, yet over half say a lack of funding stops them from putting it into action. With this in mind, we moved on to Newcastle University for a Q&A with enterprise students and entrepreneurs, all eager to make their business idea a reality. I told them my own story of becoming an entrepreneur, reassured them that it doesn’t take a lot of money to start a business and urged them to look into Virgin StartUp for a helping hand. I also told them that if they did find themselves working within a company rather than starting their own, they shouldn’t let their entrepreneurial instincts sit dormant.

  This happens to too many talented people at too many companies, and we are determined it won’t happen at Virgin Trains East Coast. We set aside £3 million for an innovation fund, which will implement the suggestions of our customers to the benefit of communities along the network. What’s more, we are actively encouraging our staff to be “intrapreneurial” and implement their ideas into real business practices. When it was finally time to board Virgin Trains East Coast for the trip south, they wouldn’t let me on unless I promised to do some real work. I donned a uniform, grabbed the refreshments trolley and made my way along the train offering some free food and drinks. By the time we made it to London, the trolley was empty.

  It is incredible to think that this business, which started as an innocent answer to a journalist’s chance question, is now operating two major rail lines running the length of Britain. One of the people integral to Virgin Trains’ growth was Will Whitehorn, who even has the front of an old Pendolino in his garage. Soon after, I was telling Will about some of my ideas over lunch in Lon
don: spaceships, hotels, cruise ships, conflict resolution, sports companies, trains, satellites, luxury resorts, drug reform, the list went on.

  “I’m still keeping busy,” I said, laughing.

  “You call that busy?” Will laughed. “That’s positively fucking comatose compared to what you used to be! Your houseboat was literally sinking under the weight of fax machines, notebooks, telephone lines and footfall.”

  “Fair enough. But I’m still not keeping out of trouble.”

  No matter what is happening in my business life, regardless of what situation my companies are in, somewhere in the back of my mind I will be mulling over a new idea. I like to think it is my curiosity and thirst for fresh inspiration. Will, however, has another view.

  “Richard, you have ADHD.”

  “Do I? No doctor’s ever mentioned it.”

  “OK, well, you have the attention span of a gnat.”

  This is fair enough, in some cases. But being able to see the bigger picture is what has enabled me to move into so many different sectors. Most business leaders want to oversee every single part of their operation. I home in on what is important. This can be tiny details, not just overarching strategy.

  Either way, I find brilliant people like Will, I delegate and let them get on with it. I am able to let go, when other people can’t. As shareholder, I delegate to management teams who take strategic decisions to drive our business forward. But I can also be as stubborn as hell when I believe in an idea and those same brilliant people around me do not. I have learned that my mind works in different ways to many others. If I had to name a skill I possess, it would be lateral thinking. When all logic is pointing in one direction, but it just doesn’t make sense to me, I question it. “Forgive me, it’s probably my dyslexia,” I will begin, or “Sorry, I’m probably being foolish, but I don’t quite follow you.” Then I will ask seemingly obvious questions, which don’t always result in the answers I expect. Out of this inquisitiveness, companies are sometimes born.

  —

  A good example can be found in the hospitality sector. For many years Virgin had a small number of hotels, mostly in the UK, and a few in Europe, such as my beloved La Residencia in Mallorca. In the aftermath of 9/11, these were among the first things we sold off to help keep Virgin Atlantic and the Group afloat. I used to play Monopoly a lot as a kid. I played aggressively, always expanding when there was the chance to buy a new street or build a hotel. Occasionally I would have to turn hotels upside down when I ran out of cash. My adult life went on to imitate my childhood.

  Hotels fitted the Virgin brand, however, and I always wanted to get back into the business. We slowly managed it through the development of Virgin Limited Edition, our luxury properties company. I love creating things, but hate the idea of them sitting empty when our family is not there. I am always keen to share in what we create. So why not let others come and enjoy our little slice of paradise, and pay the overhead at the same time?

  One time I was in Morocco with my family, preparing for our transatlantic hot-air balloon challenge. My parents went exploring while we waited for the right weather conditions to launch. They found the beautiful Kasbah Tamadot in the Atlas Mountains and instantly fell in love with the area and the local community. Mum and Dad sat me down and told me they would not talk to me again if I didn’t buy it there and then. I think they were joking, but it did the trick and now we have turned Kasbah Tamadot into an incomparably beautiful resort.

  The list of locations continued to grow: our vineyard Mont Rochelle in South Africa welcomes keen wine tasters; The Lodge in Switzerland has become our regular New Year’s escape and shelters keen skiers and hikers all year round; Mahali Mzuri, our equally stunning safari lodge in Kenya that sits slap bang in the middle of the Great Migration, has joined the collection, too. Most recently, we finally found a way to get back to our adored Mallorca coast, buying the stunning Son Bunyola to recreate the magical feel that La Residencia had in the early days. I absolutely love creating physical spaces out of bricks and mortar for people to enjoy. Somehow, the concept behind Necker, which started out of personal passion, had turned into a cohesive group of resorts, led ably by CEO Jon Brown and thoroughly enjoyed by my family, as well as our thousands of guests.

  While the luxury market remained strong, the experts told me this was an exception and there was no place for more mainstream hotels. I mentioned my admiration for sharing economy start-ups earlier. One that passed us by, despite me being keen to invest, was AirBnB. From the branding to the ethos of trusting your fellow man to look after you on your travels, I absolutely loved the idea and am delighted to see the entrepreneurs behind it thriving. However, I still felt there was space for more traditional hotels if they were reimagined with all the pain points removed.

  Ever since we began Virgin Atlantic, people have often stopped me in-flight and asked where our hotels are. We commissioned some research and it showed that most people thought we had city hotels already! Virgin Holidays has done a wonderful job creating vacations for travelers getting off Virgin Atlantic’s flights, but we still fly people to cities all over the world every day and send them off the plane to other people’s resorts. Surely it was time we created a group of beautiful city-based Virgin Hotels?

  A crisis is often a good time to start a new business. When the 2007 economic downturn happened, I thought it would be the perfect moment to begin searching for suitable properties. The first hotel we found was in Chicago: a stunning, neoclassical building that briefly opened as the Old Dearborn Bank in 1928, then swiftly closed as the Great Depression hit. You can still see the huge safe downstairs—now the home of the spa! We saw how the iconic building could combine classic charm with contemporary style, and become the embodiment of what Virgin stands for, in hotel form. I was more excited about the team we were forming than any building, though. Raul Leal, a hospitality expert who understood the brand right away, came on board to run the company, and his team has followed in his footsteps of living and breathing the Virgin way. I visited the hotel for a hard-hat tour while it was still a dusty shell, with original fittings covered and carpets rolled up along the walls. But I could see the vision of what it could become, and see the team’s eyes light up with enthusiasm.

  While out for a pizza afterward, I told Raul I was confident he would have our first hotel open for business by the time I returned. We talked about every annoying thing our rival hotels did—charged for WiFi, spiked prices for everyday items in the minibar, blasted infuriating muzak into your room—and we found ways to turn these problems into positives. We began pulling the tail of our rivals before we were even open. We turned up outside hotels that charged for internet access, like the W and the Marriott, and gave their guests our own free WiFi through a special Virgin Hotels truck. It caused a stir, annoyed the neighbors more than a little and made our mark on the city and its people. Soon job applications and pre-booking requests were overflowing in the office.

  We asked women who travel a lot what they really want from their hotel rooms—they said two things: safety and convenience (which men want, too, of course). The team developed chambers, instead of rooms, which could be divided in half so guests can be separated from anyone entering the room with deliveries or luggage or room service. Then we added two dressing tables, beautiful lighting and mirrors, drawers for makeup, extra cupboard space and big shower benches to make shaving legs easier. The beds are unique designs that allow you to get into all sorts of positions, including being able to sit up and work, rather than squeezing behind a tiny coffee table with your laptop. We built an app to control everything from the room temperature to the room service.

  Best of all, I insisted on a “Yes!” button on every phone. Guests can press it, request anything their heart desires, and our team will deliver. My favorite request so far was for a singing performance—a few of the staff were quickly charging to the room and blasting out their best Beyoncé impression
s. When I went to Chicago for the grand launch on 16 April 2015, we held a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off parade, with me in the lead role. As tens of thousands of people shook their tails to “Twist ‘n’ Shout,” blocking off the street, the police issued us with a writ. As ever, ask forgiveness, not permission! While the authorities weren’t happy, the guests certainly have been—within a year we were named Best Hotel in America by Condé Nast.

  —

  Another business idea that had long been dormant was moving the company into cruise ships. This time, the inspiration to pick this concept up came from an old drawing.

  After the Necker fire, I had been eager to take stock of exactly what was not lost in the blaze. I waded through some boxes positively overflowing with memorabilia, old diaries, concept art and plain old junk collected over the past five decades.

  I felt quite nostalgic rummaging through—not a regular sensation for me. There’s nothing like sheer clutter to remind you of your past, but it always makes me want to bring order to it, then move forward again. Trying to reach a box of books, I almost stepped through an old drawing made for Virgin Atlantic showing what the brand could look like if it was expanded into cruises. I picked it up, dusted it off and saw an image of a very different type of cruise: glamorous, exciting, in dazzling color. It felt like a sign.

  As it happened, I had just been on the phone with our investment team, talking about the very same subject. We were looking seaward to see whether we could transform another established but stuffy sector: cruising. I had first thought about starting a cruise line when I was twenty-seven. At the time I wanted it to only be for under-thirties. Once I turned thirty myself, I decided that we’d have to add a clause that would still allow the owner aboard! I have never been a fan of modern-day cruises and can understand why they have the reputation for poor service and long, boring journeys. I have admiration for the golden age of cruising, however, when there was glamour and adventure attached to it. Surely it would be possible to recreate that faded grandeur and combine it with some modern excitement? How hard could it be to build a big—OK, very big—boat?