Leadership Sir Richard Branson the creator, CEO and chairman of Virgin and its corporate culture has a very unique approach to leadership. He believes that work should be fun and employees gain a sense of contributing towards a larger goal, he tries to make them feel at home and create a sense of belonging between them and the company. In each and every one of Virgins new businesses, Branson’s attitude to be involved in all the setting up and research, so he can get a understanding of all the angles of the particular market before handing it over for his CEO’s to take over.
Branson doesn’t like symbols of corporate success and this resulted in no corporate head office , he does most his work at his many homes. Branson attitude to business expansion is “ the bigger the challenge greater the fun” so he is always on the lookout markets to start a new business in. Branson’s charisma and communication skills, has led the Virgin Group from being a small record shop to a known brand through a variety of products and services.
His ability to share his vision for each new business with all Virgin members, and motivate them to succeed as a working family-unit, has helped encourage strong attitudes of loyalty and dedication among the employees. Richard has delegative leadership style. With this style he allows his employees to take risk and make the decisions themselves in order to be more productive and innovative. However, he was still responsible for the decisions which are made overall. This style at Virgin provides opportunities for all employees to grow in areas of their interest and sharing suggestion and ideas.
Richard’s approach was to do the things first before expecting others to abide by the same in order to be the role model for entire Virgin’s employees. Since he is famous for taking risky approach’s in business, which is why he encouraged others to take risks so they don’t limit themself. Such characteristic of Richard motivated almost all the employees at Virgin and created the curiosity among people which later had benefited him more than his words could. This is how he managed his expanded company, his employees, and his family. The risk taking ability and grasping the opportunities has become his way for success.
