YouSaid · the spoken record

Sir Richard Branson

lines on the record: 37
first: 2021-02-23
most recent: 2021-02-23
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Masters of Scale is a whitewater. The show is recorded remotely with sanitized audio gear. Our executive producers are June Cohen and Darren Triff. Our supervising producer is Jay Punjabi. Our producers are Jordan McLeod, Adam Skeuse, Catherine Clark Gray, Halle Bondi, Maureen McCoy Thompson, Christina Gonzalez, and Chris McLeod. Our editor at large is Bob Sappian. Our music director is Ryan Holliday. Original music and sound design by Daniel Nissenbaum. Audio editing by Keith J. Nelson, Stephen Davies, and Andrew Nolt. Mixing and mastering by Brian Pugh. Special thanks to Chrichier, Elisa Schreiber, David Sanford, Saeeda Sepieva, Adam Heiner, Emily McManus, Kelsey Capitano, Tim Cronin, Sarah Sandman, Carrie Goldstein, Anna Pizano, Mina Korosala, Charlie Minesis, and Colin Howorth.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This diversity strengthens not just the virgin brand, but also its ability to keep asking what if, why not, and keep taking those death defying leaps? And this is the spirit every founder wants to maintain at every stage of scale. I'm Reid Hoffman, thank you for listening.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Mine, like anything else, like any other use is mine. Probably my VCs probably said, fine, we'll take $50,000 off the net present value of the asset we're investing in because it doesn't really matter. And we'll do that. And then you could build up a brand. And I think that is a more common pattern in the UK. And I think it's smart. And one of the things that Silicon Valley doesn't do. And there's real brand value there because once one of these things hits to escalation, that brand differentiation allows you potentially to launch or do something else with that. And that gives you the carryover to multiple things. And especially, of course, when the brand is as powerful about being young and fresh and new and so forth as part of the virgin brand, then that's, of course, helpful in a lot of different contexts. And rather than diluting the brand, engaging in all of these different businesses has strengthened it.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This was one of the concrete benefits of Richard's screw it just do it approach that has allowed him to launch so many successful and a few unsuccessful companies. His willingness to constantly ask what if, why not is the very reason he can keep on asking it and bring his whimsical focus to Baron more and more projects, even space exploration? After this interview, one of my producers asked me my thoughts about the Virgin story as how he's done it all under the same brand. I think the thing he's f***ing brilliant at and I've learned from and I would have done differently in my own entrepreneurial career if I was a student of entrepreneurship is until Silicon Valley people don't do this at all, we just hold on to the brand. Imagine if I, for example, in setting up LinkedIn had said, okay, the whole website, LinkedIn.com, is LinkedIn's. But the LinkedIn brand to do airlines or to do hotels or to do business conferences or all that.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Intergalactic adventures may seem a far cry from that student magazine that started the virgin story, but this range of interests is key to virgin success.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Commercial spaceflight remains uncharted territory today, but almost two decades ago, Sir Richard was already imagining how he could put the Virgin Spin on the experience.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Up until now, Sir Richard had proven that you can keep asking, what if, why not, to hugely improve existing products and services and reach massive scale? But what about when it's a product that doesn't exist yet? Sir Richard was set on course to find out with an idea that came from an unlikely place, the last ever leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Place where it was enough following over time where people just said, okay, my preference, just like some people have preference for Coke and some people have a preference for Pepsi, and a third people have a preference for virgin cola. But they responded early. And the way they responded was to go around to all the places that would distribute Virgin Cola and say, we'll pay you money not to carry virgin, right? And why would the retailer take the money? Because they're like, well, actually, in fact, I don't think Virgin Cola being here is increasing my net cola sales. And you're just giving me some more money. It's not my problem. Great. I got extra profitability for it. And they were willing to do that because they didn't have people coming in going, where the fuck is my virgin cola? Right. And so I think that was part of the problem on the cola side. This is the risk of going for things sometimes. They flat out don't work. But the upside is that there are so many more daring ideas to try.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“After this interview, one of my producers asked me my thoughts on why Virgin Kola got crushed by its competitors. Well, I think there were two reasons. The most central one is the product really wasn't that differentiated, right? So because the product wasn't differentiated, he couldn't muster a defense line. So yes, British Airways tried to crush him, but they're trying to crush him in courts and denial access, and he could survive through demand. For example, if his product was really differentiated, you would have consumers going, why is it not here? Right? Like I want it versus, well, that was kind of fun, but okay, fine. You got coke, I'll take coke. Oh, I got Pepsi. I'll take Pepsi. And he identified that. I think that was actually true because it's like, look, I've got tasty sugar water too. Now, the second condition, though, is that if Coke and Pepsi hadn't responded vigorously, then maybe he could have built up...”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's true, these are all great stories, and not just for the grandkids, like any enthralling fairy tale, they are full of magic and whimsy, and spring from asking what if and why not? What if I sow these magic beans Why not follow that white rabbit, climb that beanstalk? And fortunately there are times when your unstoppable urge to follow the next daring notion is going to run into an immovable force. It's 1994, and Sir Richard Branson is about to take another leap into unfamiliar territory”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're back. Before the break, Sir Richard's refusal to stop asking What if, and why not had led him to take on British Airways? It was a battle in which Sir Richard learned that you need to go all in on your daring notions, otherwise you risk being crushed before you even get off the ground. But on a lighter note, the fight between Virgin and BA also showcased another side of Sir Richard's character his love for audacious and fun publicity stunts. It's another area in which Sir Richard goes all in on his daring notions and does so very publicly. I asked him to share a few with me.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There's going to be two types of companies. Those are great at AI and those that went out of business because they weren't.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's not just a turn of phrase. A book with that title exists. In fact, to hear Sir Richard listing them dirty is too soft of a phrase.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Stunts like these helped endear Virgin to the public. Richard was Robin Hood, thumbing his nose at the establishment. But this virgin firmly in BA's firing line.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Virgin Atlantic shook up the stayed airline industry, and the passengers loved it. With its massages, onboard bars, in flight entertainment, and general attitude of fun, the upstart airline wowed its customers and showed up the complacency of British Airways. And Richard had no qualms about reminding them again and again with a series of cheeky publicity stunts. A particular memorable one was in nineteen ninety nine when the London Eye, the landmark one hundred twenty meter diameter observation wheel was being erected in the British capital. The event was being sponsored by British Airways.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And they're like, okay, well, can we make it fun? Right. And it was like, yeah, we can make it fun. We can have odd people read the script. And we could, I realized that most of you probably know how to put on your safety belt. And if you don't seek help. But here's how you do it if you're being entertaining, right? You know, that kind of thing. And so that's the thing that they do the whole way through. Richard wasn't just focused on entertainment. He knew exactly which parts of the business had to be taken seriously. And then he would need to build an expert team to build them out. Doing this would let him scale his daring move to start an airline.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Like, everyone hates watching the safety video. They're boring as they're like these PSAs that are like, we've got you locked in jail and you have to watch this.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I got to thinking about this out loud after my interview with Sir Richard. And what they do is they chart out every step. It works much better in the physical world, but like every step and they go, okay, you decide you're going to travel today. What do you do at home? How do you get to the airport? What happens when you get to the airport? What happens at the airport? What happens when you get on the plane? What do you sit down on the plane? What does the first greeting look like? What is the next? Literally, that's part of the reason why, for example, among other things that Virgin Atlantic was the first one to innovate on the safety video because they literally looking at every single little microstep across the whole thing because their theory basically is that Axe, in fact, 10 little microsteps that are improved lead to possibly magic across the whole thing. Yes, when you get a big step that's really valuable, but even micro changes as it goes through. So for example, they're looking at the safety video and they go, well, what can we do about the safety video?”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The Baron King of Whartonaby sneeringly saw Sir Richard's outsider status as a weakness, but it was actually Richard's biggest strength, along with his screw it, let's do it attitude.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“British Airways was then run by a gentleman by the name of John Leonard King, Baron of Whartonaby. This was long before Sir Richard's own knighthood. Back then he was seen as a reckless upstart, not fit to even spit polish the riding boots of the right honourable Baron.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What I love about this story is that Freddie Laker didn't pour cold water on Richard's skirt, let's do it approach. Instead, he showed him how to double down and make it work. By doing something that played very much in a Richard's strengths.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Turns out they did. There's not much of a bigger example of going all in on a due daring notion than buying a seven hundred forty seven even if it is second hand. But Richard knew there was far more to running an airline than owning a plane. He was about to take another daring leap off the side of a cliff, and he wanted the best people with him and the best advice guiding him. So he turned to Freddy Laker, founder of UK's Laker Airlines, which had recently been crushed by established giant British Airways.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I put it to Sir Richard that this same spirit of fun was the key to his next big success. Some of my earliest memories of you and Virgin is that youthfulness, that vitality, that playfulness in being bold in the marketing. But then, of course, it reflects also boldness in the business. Gaikopick software because in many ways it's easy and valuable. And I try to do the easiest thing that's valuable. You have a boldness of jumping into hard businesses. The airline business is really difficult. And yet you kind of like, okay, we've done this amazing music business, the creation of a young, energetic, vibrant new brand by being bold and different. What made you then go, okay, now I'm going to do an airline?”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Note that Virgin Records wasn't offering a disruptive new business model. This was the golden era of the record company, and Virgin was just one of many. However, there was a freshness that came directly out of Richard's Screw it, let's do it, ethos. As the old song goes, it ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Even if the name doesn't ring any bells, tubular or otherwise, you would be very likely to recognize the music. The album's opening track was used as a theme for the movie The Exorcist.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's right. Richard took the orders and the money before he had the stock, or even knew if he'd be able to get it at the price he was offering his customers. There are a few things I love about this story the audacity of starting a record store without any records is one of them. But I also love that their lack of cash flow led directly to their advantage. Richard and his team had no choice but to negotiate those steep discounts because they had already made the sales. Richard's fast growing reputation as someone who did things differently in a quick, cavalier manner was attractive to lots of people. Not least of all musicians.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It should probably go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that this was in the days before digital music. The Walkman was still a few years away. CDs were a futuristic gleam on the horizon. Vinyl was king. There was only one problem for Richard's fledgling record store, but it was a pretty big one.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Realizing this early allowed Richard to make time to constantly be asking, What if? Why not? And then taking the leap, because he knows he's got the best possible people helping him to build that airplane, balloon, or spaceship on the way down. The magazine was the launch pad for Sir Richard's next more famous venture The Spark Came, as it so often does with Richard when someone made an offhand comment.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This set the template for a long line of screw it let's do it moments that would define Sir Richard and Virgin. But this wasn't the luck of youthful recklessness. Even at this point, Richard had learned a lesson that I would say is the unsung secret to just why he has been able to say screw it, let's do it so many times through his career.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Like most schoolboys, Richard lacked an office. And because this was the late 60s, he didn't have his own phone, which he needed to sell advertising and conduct interviews. He found his solution in a classic British icon, a red telephone box, but the amount of time he was spending in his three foot by three foot office started causing problems.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What if and why not? And often ends with him somewhere unexpected. That's what happened with his first venture, a student magazine”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They make what they do look easy, but it's not. This is why when you see this kind of stunt on TV, an announcer is likely to intone, don't try this at home. Sir Richard Branson is not only a daredevil, but a hugely successful serial founder who has started a staggering number of scale businesses under his Virgin Grand. And like a daredevil, he has found a way that lets him take death divine entrepreneur leaps again and again in a new markets and industries at a rate that makes him one of the most prolific and successful founders in the masters of scale pantheon. Although Richard is willing to jump into unknown territory with narrow glance and a wink, once he's in, he's fully committed and he won't back down. So how does he manage this? Sir Richard has refined an approach that has let him scale up his urge to throw caution in the wind and try new things. It has let him scale virgin from a hip little record story in the early seventies London to a global brand that has included airlines, music publishing, adventure experiences, and even cola.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This is Masters of Scale. I'm Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, partner at Greylock, and your host, and I believe you should never stop asking what if and why not. Take those daring notions seriously and go all in on the bold leaps. They will keep you innovating. It may surprise you to learn that I've never shot myself out of a cannon, jumped a motorcycle through burning hoops, or walked a tightrope over a tank of underfed piranhas. We describe the people who pull off these kinds of stunts as daredevils, and we often think of these kinds of people as reckless, impulsive, and perhaps not long for this world. But the successful daredevils are quite the opposite. They aren't doing these stunts on a whim or taking them lightly. If they did, well, they wouldn't achieve the status of daredevil. They'd be pronounced long before anyone ever heard of them. Instead, they spend countless hours preparing, they are methodical, and they often have a team of people helping them.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If it's perfectly in with my metaphor for entrepreneurship, that it's like jumping off a cliff and then building the airplane as you fall. Of course, this is just the metaphor unless you're Sir Richard Branson, who literally does jump off all manner of tall structures and literally does build flying machines. And the prelude to each of these bold jumps is the refrain. What if? Why not? That's why I believe you should never stop asking, what if, and why not? Take those daring notions seriously and go all in on the bold leaps. They will keep you innovating. There are fires burning when you're going home.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Although his dignity was bruised, it was a publicity triumph and another win for Branson's. It let's do it, ethos. And this ethos has got Sir Richard into other scrapes that range from dangerous to bizarre to just bewildering, saying, screw it, let's do it, is how Richard has started many of Virgin's most legendary ventures. It's even the title of one of his many books.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And it's the answer he gave on that windswept rooftop 400 feet above Las Vegas. It was 2007, and Sir Richard was there to publicize the launch of his new airline, Virgin America. Far below, a crowd filled with celebrities and press waited in anticipation. The chant began. Jump, jump, jump”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's Virgin Founder and incorble thrill seeker, Sir Richard Branson. And that question, is this sensible? Is one he's asked himself time and time again, often with the same answer.”
2021-02-23 · Masters of Scale · Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson: The secret to big leaps · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT