Leadership Style and Characteristics of Richard Branson - Assignment Example

 Leadership Style and Characteristics of Richard Branson Virgin group of companies was founded by Sir Richard Nicholas Charles Branson in 1970. Born of Edward and Eve Branson in England in the year 1950, the entrepreneur dropped out of Stowe School at the age of sixteen to start his youth magazine, the Student. In 1970, he started Virgin mail order to enable him fund his magazine. The business progressed slowly but through that enabled him start a record shop in London (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). In 1972, through the success of the record shop, he was able to start a recording studio in Oxford shire, London. The music company made him numerous profits in 1973, and has led to the subsequent creation of the other facets of Virgin, including, radio, banking, healthcare, film, internet, commercial spacecraft, electronics, jewelry, mobile phones, music, radio, and retail, among others. The success of the Virgin group is attributed greatly to the personal qualities and leadership style of Richard Branson. This paper elaborates on the leadership style of the entrepreneur that makes his business flourish, having over fifty thousand employees at the moment. For the success of any business, discipline and style of leadership of the manager is important. Richard Branson is a participative leader. He says that what leadership boils down to is people, whatever the style, technique, you need to trust in yourself (Branson, 2012). He adds that nobody can be prosperous alone, and that one cannot be a good leader without great people to lead. From the statement, it is clear and correct to say that he is the kind of leader that involves people, and also himself, to ensure the success of Virgin group. In addition, the entrepreneur believes in delegation. “I have continuously found in the art of delegation, finding the best people for Virgin, and giving them the freedom and encouragement to flourish, “he articulates (Dearlove, 2007). He allows people to do some work for him. In fact, when he started Virgin records, he even took a step back, just to let people do it for him. He believes in his staff and needs not be scared on underperformance “when I setup Virgin Records, I even decided to isolate myself physically from the company, by moving into a boathouse,” he explains (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). Apparently, the entrepreneur possesses an attitude that is unconventional and informal. Due to this, he has managed to gain fame all over the world. Through his leadership style, he turns every failure into success, by creating a campaign out of it. His agenda is to take on big companies to give his clients value for their money (Branson, 2012). When Virgin first got into the market, for instance, he realized that customers felt they were being treated unfairly. In this regard, he took it firmly and took the side of the client, thus being able to understand their needs, and making the necessary changes. He also has a high affinity for the sixties’ style of being hippie, thus branding the virgin products as a ‘cool’ alternative as he embraces time. For that reason and many more on his leadership style, the Virgin Group has significantly grown worldwide, successfully. Branson is thus a transformational kind of a leader (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). For any multifaceted company to prosper, Branson’s style of leadership becomes necessary. A business like virgin has numerous products, with countless branches all over the world. One person cannot do everything and see every opportunity alone. For this reason, a proactive leader will move faster and deeper into the market than a bureaucratic one who feels they should do everything. He also believes in empowering the ideas of other people (Branson, 2012). An example is when a flight attendant approached him with the idea of a wedding business. Branson not only received the idea, but he also put on a wedding gown to be used as a showcase during the launch. And just like that, Virgin Brides was brought to being. An organization with such number of brands and activities requires a leader that delegates, motivates and believes in his staff. With this, people feel motivated and are thus able to do things out of the box, hence the success of the company (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). The greatest challenge for many Human resources in enterprises is retaining employees. Employee motivation and empowerment is the greatest achievement a company can record. Some companies pay very well but end up losing their hard gotten, high achieving staff. The primary cause of this is a lack of motivation and fueling of such employees (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). For your information, Virgin group employees are paid slightly lower than most of the workers in major companies but they don’t run away. Why is that so? The answer is simple. Richard Branson as a leader empowers and motivates his employees at all times. To start with, employees at Virgin are given freedom to come up with new ideas and ways of running the company efficiently. In addition, he delegates most of the work to his staff, showing a sense of trust and pride in building his team. Hence, this is probably the biggest way of motivating employees (Branson, 2012). Richard Branson is not a man to feel embarrassed or dirty when it comes to business. He doesn’t hold himself high and mighty above everybody else. You will see him dressed like a flight attend, bride, space scientist or even a clown just to demonstrate the love and commitment he has for his business. For this reason, he is always with his employees working together as a team (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). He totally encourages teamwork among Virgin employees. Branson also motivates employees by encouraging them to apply for jobs in the Virgin group that they find interesting. An example is in the Virgin Galactic, which is based on going to space. Taking part in company events is another motivational factor. For instance, Virgin Mobile Live Freefest is a free music festival held every year to help raise funds for homeless children. During this festival, employees from all over Virgin group are allowed to participate in this activity. Virgin group stands for fun and during this festival; it acts as a reminder of what the group stands for; fun (Dearlove, 2007). The big question is, can the same techniques used by Branson to motivate his employees be adopted somewhere else? The answer is yes. Simply put, Virgin Company has over fifty thousand employees, an indication that the methods are efficient and sustainable. Everybody yearns for freedom and ability to execute their ideas without any barriers or negative criticism from their employer (Branson, 2012). When this is given, one tends to feel relaxed and at peace unlike when being watched like a herd of cattle; all their moves being monitored. However, for this to happen and in order to achieve success in such an environment, self-discipline and determination are key. Therefore, other companies can adopt these motivational factors, among many others for employees to be able to do a good job and also for retaining their employees (Branson, 2012). When it comes to communicating his ideas and listening to people, Branson prefers simplicity. He does not believe in sophisticated writings and power point presentations. The entrepreneur likes one on one talks, away from boardrooms and presentation halls. Likewise, he would rather someone gives him a talk while in a bathtub, where he is more relaxed (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). He believes that eye contact and relating to someone in regular conversations is the best way to present your idea. In his book, he says that a business presentation language should be full of confident, very concise, and clear. This means that the use of those complex words is a waste of time and energy, and he finds such presentations boring. In addition, during his interview with Forbes magazine, he articulated that he loves simplicity when it comes to communication and articulation of business ideas as well as his visions. Another thing about how he communicates his vision is that he does not like going through the process of numerous consultations as it is time wasting (Branson, 2012). He starts whatever program he desires and only brings it out to the light when he feels it is ready. Richard Branson’s style of leadership, given a chance, would be the person to work with as a manager. He is simple and thus makes it easy to relate to him as a person. Being a transformational and supportive leader, it is easy for one to grow in other areas. He also motivates his employees through encouragement of teamwork and allowing one to work in a field they have an interest in. This is a good idea as it boosts specialization and allows one to work only in their field of interest (Branson, 2012). Consequently, one is able to produce results without much pressure. Branson himself is also a man who is outgoing and will not be afraid of helping one do an activity. On the same breathe; he makes jobs attractive through his humor and ability to take up the dirt without fear (Dearlove, 2007). There are three levels of leadership presumed to exist, namely self, team and organizational. However, Richard Branson together with other great leaders has led to the introduction of a new level known as the global leadership. This style entails taking charge of the whole world. A global leader comes up with products and services that suit the global economy, need charismatic skills for motivation, use hierarchy structures that are loose and are not bureaucratic (Branson, 2012). In addition, the leader should be empathetic towards people’s emotions. In order to get power, one needs to share power. He needs not be jealous of people’s interest in developing themselves. As a global leader, they should choose staff and colleagues whose skills complement theirs rather than those ith skills similar to theirs . Richard Branson possesses these qualities and more, making him a global leader (Dearlove, 2007). Looking at the entrepreneur and his business five years from now,Virgin group is going to record considerable success, putting in mind the numerous progresses they have made already. And most likely, through his creative staff and motivation they receive, more inventions will be done (Branson & Overdrive, 2014). Another possibility is that space tourism will have taken effect. In addition, the company will have infiltrated many parts of the world, even the most remote. Finally, the leadership style of Richard Branson has been the reason for the tremendous success of Virgin group, and this will also help grow the company in many years to come. References Branson, R. (2012). What they don't teach you in business school: Business the Branson way. London: Virgin. Branson, R., & OverDrive, I. (2014). The Virgin Way. S.I.: Penguin Group US. Dearlove, D. (2007). Business the Richard Branson way: 10 secrets of the world's greatest brand builder (3rd ed.). Chichester, UK: Capstone. Read More