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Losing My Virginity
By Richard Branson
Review by Mona Yousry
, Beyster Institute Staff
“Who the hell does Richard Branson think he is?” Lord King demanded, “Part of the bloody Foreign Office?” This rebuke came on the heels of a dramatic hostage rescue out of Baghdad, negotiated by Branson via the King of Jordan. Saddam Hussein had agreed to allow one of Virgin Atlantic’s planes into a blacked-out, pre-war Baghdad airport to airlift medical supplies in and the people out. Upstart Virgin had usurped Lord King and British Airways, causing the former to become the target of a devious campaign orchestrated by Lord King to destroy Branson and his tiny airline.
“Losing My Virginity” is a heartfelt autobiography by one of the most colorfully adventurous self-made billionaires of our time. It all started over Branson’s Auntie Joyce and her ten shilling bet that he couldn’t learn to swim during a family vacation. At the last second on the last day of vacation, the five year old Branson finally succeeded in winning the bet and in that moment formed the baseline theme of his life; pulling success out of thin air just in time.
Springboarding from winning the swimming bet to creating a school magazine appropriately named "Student" launched Branson’s business career. The lessons learned developing Student and selling advertising to keep it afloat morphed into valuable business skills. As Student’s following increased, Branson noticed a logical extension into mail-order music, so he began selling records through the magazine. However, a postal strike almost put him under. He decided that record stores were in order. The first Virgin record store became the ‘hip’ place to hang out. More stores were opened and Virgin started to see cashflow but few profits.
Branson’s next move logically followed his record stores. Why not make records? Virgin’s first hit came in the form of an unlikely recording artist named Mike Oldfield whose unique sound propelled him into becoming a bestselling artist of the 1970s. Virgin started making profits signing acts like the Sex Pistols, Human League, Simple Minds, Boy George, and Phil Collins; but Branson was restless.
Following the collapse of Sir Freddie Laker’s airline in 1982, Branson moved to finance a new airline flying the Gatwick-to-New York route. Branson had a small problem, however, in that he didn’t have any planes. After a day or two on the phone with Boeing he discovered that they did lease Jumbo Jets and might be willing to take the plane back after a year if things didn’t work out. With this sketchy outline, convinced that his downside risk was limited to $2 million, he approached his partners over lunch. Needless to say, the lunch was not a great success. His partners called him “mad” and patently refused to entertain the idea. Seriously, what business does a recording company have sticking its nose into the flighty world of aviation? Branson was committed to tapping into his inner power. Branson says that setting himself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them moved him forward.
A few days before the launch of Virgin Atlantic, Branson went to Gatwick for a final CAA approval test flight. As he gazed at the jumbo-sized Virgin logo on the plane's tail, he thought back to the early 1970s when Trevor Key scratched “Virgin” on a napkin. The image on the plane was enormous and the weight of launching an airline dawned on Branson, but it was happening; Virgin had a Jumbo Jet. As the plane started its roll, a flock of birds got sucked into one of the massive engines, causing it to explode. Facing an inaugural flight in two days which was slated to carry 250 journalists and cameramen, Branson had to scramble, persuading his bank to front the $600,000 required to buy a new engine so the test flight could finally happen.
But Branson was still under the gun. Randolph Fields, who first approached Branson with the airline idea had become a problem. Fields had refused the $1 million buy-out of his shares and had filed an injunction to stop Maiden Voyager from taking off. After a flurry of phone calls, a judge denied the injunction and Maiden Voyager rolled down the runway with everyone on board watching a screen showing some seedy-looking pilots in the cockpit. As the Jumbo raced down the runway, the pilots seemed extremely relaxed, looking at eachother instead of paying attention to flying the plane. Many of the passengers began wondering if that crazy Branson had put them on a suicide flight when the pilot handed a cigarette to his co-pilot without a care in the world. The nose wheel lifted off the ground as the huge jet roared into the sky and the crew turned around to look into the camera, revealing the bearded engineer as Richard Branson himself. Branson had filmed the clip the previous day in a flight simulator. A collective sigh spread through the cabin as the occupants realized it was a big joke fostered by their fun-loving leader.
Fun has been a hallmark of Branson throughout his adventures. From signing Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones and Janet Jackson to crossing the Pacific in a hot air balloon to setting the speed record in a boat across the Atlantic, fun and showmanship plays an important roll in all that Richard Branson does.
The Virgin brand along with its promoter Richard Branson have gone on to become a world-wide phenomenon offering top-quality services and products to its loyal customers. I’ve heard it said that the best flight is a Virgin first-class ticket.
“Losing My Virginity” is an entertaining and educational read, full of exciting adventures and mind-numbing challenges overcome by following life’s thread with passion, fun, and the supreme confidence instilled in a five-year-old boy when he realized he could indeed swim. Money has never been the primary focus in Branson’s life, but instead is a direct result of delivering true value in each breath of his existence. We can all learn a lesson from that!
©2007 The Beyster Institute and its authors and their entities. All rights reserved.
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