Richard BransonReseñas

Where: Ubud

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from Richard Branson. This is a good inspirational and motivating book that is very easy to read. I knew that there were a number of Virgin companies prior to reading this book, however I was not aware of how many different industries Virgin is involved with (music, mobile, space travel, planes, trains, finance, health clubs, ...).

The culture of Virgin is a key component of the why the Virgin companies have been successful. Whilst there is not a step by step guide for how to build a successful company, there are many useful insights and lessons learnt. Caring and Encouraging your people, Customer-focus, Innovation, Embracing leadership, Fun, Learning from mistakes and Social Responsibility are key attributes I now associate with the Virgin brand.

Short and fun stories of starting out. Mixes in his adventures with business deals, and you get a sense of how lucky and instinctual he is.

I read this autobiography because I heard Branson interviewed on the Freakonomics podcast. He had made a comment that he was dyslexic and dropped out of school. He seemed to suggest that struggling students don't really need school to succeed as he did. This raised a question for me: So how do you start a company with a reading disability? The question really wasn't answered but he did surround himself in the early days with smart friends who helped first with the publication Student and then starting Virgin Records. It is an entertaining, sometimes enlightening read but got repetitive.

A well written and thought out book based on personal experience and beliefs. Richard Branson is an experienced and insightful man who believes in the entrepreneurial approach to business and life. Everyone should be an entrepreneur of one kind or another.

It’s not often that the first thought I have on finishing a book it that I have to read it again.

When I was in my second year of University, I did a module on global warming. It was the last lecture on a Thursday afternoon and I’d cycle home feeling depressed. The lecturer was a cheerful bouncy young man who was keen to be there. He was easy to listen to and I looked forward to sitting in the lectures genuinely being interested in what I was hearing. The content however was enough to knock me into a down beat mood for the entire evening.

To make me cry, you talk about the planet. There’s a point where the information about how doomed we are, and more importantly how doomed the people who live in already difficult conditions are, seems so overwhelming that crying seems the only option.

This book gave a glimmer of hope.

Deeply disappointing. This could have been a great book, but was "phoned in". Essentially generic business book filler, with a few glimpses of Virgin/Branson flavor. The worst thing is this book essentially means there won't be a good version of this same book, which I would gladly read -- Branson and the Virgin companies are amazing and I'm sure there are insights, or even just interesting anecdotes, which he could share if he wanted to.

The one thing I learned from this book is how amazing Sir Freddie Laker of Laker Airways was -- I'd like to find a good biography of him and his company.

Where: Ubud

Where: Bali-Lombok 5 hour ferry

Not bad, but nothing new either. Kind of boring, quit reading.

Great book about a fascinating entrepreneur and human being. Especially loved the last part about his decisions to give back and to focus on earth's real problems. The book is extremely detailed as Richard has a habit of writing a constant diary in his notebook.

Richard Branson is one of the most respectful businessmen of our era and by the looks of it, the kind of a businessman who takes care of his employees and makes sure they get all the benefits they can get, but he's also the kind of a businessman that shall never change and always remain the same, always living on the edge throughout his life by always following his philosophy. Which isn't a bad thing at all, for each and everyone of us should enjoy life, however, we should also value life for what it is, a gift that was given to us by an unknown force to make the best of it and take advantage of our limitless potential. And that's exactly what this man's doing, and what makes this man remarkable.

There are several reasons why I really love reading this man's books and this man's words within his books, but the main reason why I really love reading this man's books and this man's words within his books has to be his way of presenting himself, his dangerous life, his loyal co-workers, and of course, his company inside of his books. Once again he has proven himself to be immensely successful and immensely intelligent businessman who lives a truly dangerous life because of all of the stunts he pulls to test his limits. But on the other hand, he's also once again proven himself to be a person of integrity and to be a man who's immensely loyal to his employees, and everyone else he cares about. To me, he's not just a Billionaire with Billions of pounds or Billions of dollars on his bank account, but a Billionaire with a caring heart, he strikes me as a man who'd do anything in the world for his employees, and for his loving family, and that's something all of us who don't know him personally should cherish. If you're truly interested in this man's business life, his work ethics, his principles, and his philosophy and mantras, then this book's a must read for you, for it offers all of that and much much more.

We've all heard of Richard Branson at one point in our lives, how could we not hear, since he's one of the world's most richest, most successful businessmen, leaders, and entrepreneurs, and a truly remarkable boss who supposedly makes sure all the workers who work for him get all kinds of benefits. In this book, he kindly shares pretty much everything he knows about leadership and thus offers its reader a different kind of way to enter into his brilliant mind and into his business life. Which isn't bad at all if you ask me, for you can learn a whole lot about his leadership techniques, by following his mantras and his philosophy, and who knows you may start to like his world famous mantras and his world famous philosophy and apply them to your life, and eventually create an immensely successful business venture.

I finished the book in 1.5h while also listening to classical music in the background. I didn't rush through.

The book is written using simple words and recorded Richard Branson's main core advices for others. A decent short read and I am impressed by his accomplishments.

A pretty bland memoir. There are some gems in it, though, and Branson is an impressive businessman. Most of the companies mentioned I'd never heard of, so it was interesting to see the range of Branson's brand venture capital investments. He presents himself as having consistent vision and values. I liked learning some of the business details behind Virgin Music and Virgin Airlines.

The problem is that it is not very cohesive. Branson himself doesn't have a long attention span, and the book certainly shows it. The writing is very poor, and it mostly feels like dictation. The story bounces around, from paragraph to paragraph each introducing some new subject. There's little followthrough or organization, though Branson often doubles back on himself. Branson is very self centered and not very reflective, so some of the threads—for example, an excruciatingly detailed elaboration of his libel case against British Airways—are just boring.

This is not the finest piece of literature ever but it is written in a down to earth and folksy style and is a very enjoyable read. I can imagine nothing more fun than spending a week on Necker Island with Richard Branson. You can tell he cares a great deal about people and bettering things for the next generation. I found his exploits to be inspiring and frankly I am amazed at the energy he has for all the many things he does both personally and professionally. If you want to feel more optimistic and motivated for the future I strongly recommend this book. Even if you don't it is an entertaining and enlightening read.

I finished the book in 1.5h while also listening to classical music in the background. I didn't rush through.

The book is written using simple words and recorded Richard Branson's main core advices for others. A decent short read and I am impressed by his accomplishments.

My father sent me this book with the accompanying message "he's (Branson) a bit of a wanker but even wankers say some useful things at times." And, so it proved.

Branson talks about his upbringing and how he decided to quit school at 16 to start a newspaper, which eventually branched out to trains, music, air travel and other more mundane investments. Besides covering British Airway's dirty tricks campaign, Branson probably offers aphorisms that anyone wanting to become extremely rich would take to heart. As I am not such a person, "Losing my Virginity" was enough of a time distraction when I was in Seoul, trying to avoid the new age cult I somehow got involved with.½

This man is very definitely the hero of his own story, but on the other hand he's often disarmingly honest, and he also has a lot to feel heroic about.

His ballooning escapades seem very dangerous, not least because the balloons themselves seem shoddily put together, but that's probably a reflection of how the kind of ballooning where you cross the pacific at thirty thousand feet and two hundred miles per hour is not done very much.

Before reading the book I did not appreciate that Virgin is involved in a staggering range of businesses. It felt like the record business and then the airline were really his true passions though. A good chunk of the book is devoted to the struggle to overcome British Airways dirty tricks campaign, and how Branson is finally vindicated by winning a huge libel settlement against Lord King and BA. I didn't much like BA before but finding out about all of this and how they did similar things to put Freddy Laker, British Midland, Air Europe and a bunch of others out of business, really put me off them.

All in all a good story which was well read, recorded by the same people who do audiobooks for the blind.

This comes across more of a combination memoir and business inspiration book. Branson alternates between things that happen to him personally and events in his many companies, both good and bad. There will be complaints about the name dropping he does, but on the same token he will name a lot of his own non-famous employees.

Free review copy.

great book

An enjoyable light read in which Branson relates many of life's lessons and how he had applied them to business.

I rarely read biographies, but this is worth reading.

This book is a precise account of Branson's career, and throughout it one can find many lessons, interesting ideas and concepts. It never seizes to become interesting, and the BA situation and Branson's ballooning adventures contain more suspense than most suspense novels. It demonstrates the numerous difficult decisions that have to be made, and Richard's characteristic manner of finding a way out of the most difficult financial and legal problems. Throughout the book Richard grows as a person, from a restless young entrepreneur to a man that is changing the world, now the founder of a true empire, and instead of sitting on his wealth, Richard has been doing steady good with his fortune. He should not only be an inspiration to entrepreneurs around the world but to anyone.