Review of "Losing my Virginity" by Richard Branson
Book title: Losing My Virginity
Author: Richard Branson
Place of publication: Rainville Road, London, England
Publisher: Virgin Books; Rev Ed edition
Year of publication: June 27th 2002.
Number of pages: 672
ISBN-10: 0753506483
ISBN-13: 978-0753506486
Synopsis:
Richard Branson takes the reader on the adventure; which is his life. The author openly discusses his family, friends, sexual escapades, life threatening attempts to fly around the world in a hot air balloon; he also covers his many business endeavors ranging from Virgin Records to Virgin Galactic. Richard Branson offers us an insight into his own unique business philosophy which most of the time contradicts the stuffy nature of traditional business academia.
Background of the Author:
Richard Branson was born in 1950 and educated at Stowe School. In 1966 he borrowed just £4 off his encouraging mother to start up what was to be his first business venture student magazine'. In 1992 Richard reluctantly sold the Virgin Music group to Thorn EMI in a record $1 billion dollar deal. This huge cash flow allowed Branson to embark on many new business ventures such as Virgin Mobile, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Money, Virgin Hotels, and expand old ongoing ventures such as Virgin Atlantic. The Virgin group employs over 50,000 employee's world wide and is a widely recognized and respected brand all over the world.
In 1999 the Queen awarded Richard Branson with a knighthood for his services to entrepreneurship'. Married twice and proud father to a musician son and pediatric doctor daughter, Branson alternates his time between his homes in London and Oxfordshire. Special occasions and holidays are spent among...
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...just interested in finding out more about this inspirational man. Although the book is a chunky 672 pages, it's a real page turner, a book you will be reluctant to put down.
Conclusion:
Richard Branson's autobiography makes for an exciting, riveting and inspirational read. Branson comically but fondly recollects his past business ventures, love affairs, youth, family, death defying adventures and many famous and influential friends. This is a book that I recommend to all students of business, Branson is eager to teach the reader "the business rules they don't teach you in business school". Refreshingly Branson does not try to force his views on any subject upon the reader, nor does he claim to offer advice or disclose any hidden secrets of success. His informal, rewarding and caring management style is one that I feel should be emulated by more business people.
The fundamental characteristic of magical realism is its duality, which enables the reader to experience both the character’s past and the present. In the novel, Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson uses this literary device to address the the trauma and mistreatment of the Haisla community in Canada by unveiling the intimate memories of the protagonist, Lisamarie, and the resulting consequences of this oppression. Monkey Beach illustrates how abuse in the past leads to another form of self-medication in the future - a neverending, vicious cycle for the members of the Haisla community. Many characters in Monkey Beach are scarred from childhood sexual abuse and family neglect, and resort to drug and alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism. These appalling memories are an account of the impact of colonization on the Haisla territory which continues to haunt the Aboriginal community throughout generations.
Saunders, George. "The 400-pound CEO." Harper's Magazine Feb. 1993: 52. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
mother used to come home late at night and used to get beaten by her
What is the difference between effective or ineffective communication skills when working with children, this essay is determine to find out the appropriate ways to communicate with children by analyse, the video clip ‘Unloved’ by Tony Grison, where a young White British girl aged 11 was taken into care, due to her father being abusive towards her and mother not wanting to see her.
Krames, Jeffrey A.. What the Best CEOs Know : 7 Exceptional Leaders and Their Lessons for Transforming Any Business.
An Uncommitted Child The novel, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, describes the life of a man who lives through his music and his childish ways. Rob Fleming is a man who struggles with commitment when it comes to what he needs, yet commits to what he wants. This lack of commitment leaves Rob struggling with the relationships with the people in his daily life. Living his life in a careless and childish manner, Rob Fleming burns the bridges with those who are close to him, and as a result realizes how much he truly cares for them when it’s too late. There were many jobs that Rob had taken over over the years; with each job he has there is a lack of passion and drive which results in his lack of commitment.
author of this book. He has also has written many other good books such as The Grapes
His method of preaching was very forceful and somewhat intimidating. He taught about his personal religion and tried to make his students accept it by force (Boston).... ... middle of paper ... ...
We all start someplace and for Robert Edward Turner III it started in Cincinnati, Ohio at the McCallie School. He was a National Forensics League member. (NFL) It was at this school he won the Tennessee debate championship. Robert Edward Turner was also call and what he is known as today as Ted Turner. His dad, Robert Turner II also known as Ed Turner, bought a billboard company he changed the name to Turner Advertising. Ted learned every aspect of the outdoor advertising business at his father’s insistence. He learned from maintenance to finance, but not all he did was work sailed his dinghy that his father gave him. “At age nine, he began sailing and soon developed a passion for sailboat racing. By age 11, he was competing in the junior regatta of the Savannah Yacht Club.” (Achievement). Ted’s father wanted him to attend Harvard, but his grades weren’t high enough for him to get in so Ted attended Brown University. After school, he returned home to his father’s business where his father gave him the assistant manager of Turner Advertising’s Atlanta branch position. Ted inherited the business at 24 when his father took his own life after the business took a turn for the worse and went into debt. By the end of the decade Ted had turned the business around into the largest billboard company in the southeast. (Achievement).
Shortly after, he married his college sweetheart Betty Stocker, and began Engelstad Construction in Grand Forks; the buildings he constructed are still standing and serving well. After making a quick fortune there (vowing to become a millionaire by age 30, he achieved his goal at 29), he moved his company to Las Vegas, to build FHA-financed housing for the federal government and began buying property with money he had made as a building contractor in Grand Forks (Westman).
In the book “Think and Grow Rich,” the author, Napoleon Hill, provides a set of principles that he calls the key to financial success. The idea at the center of these principles is that one becomes what he or she frequently thinks about, in this case success (i.e. rich). Hill lays out a method he created to translate one’s thoughts into reality, creating an insatiable hunger and drive within an individual to succeed. Using the examples of his son and some of America’s legendary iconic business leaders, of which Hill studied and interviewed, including Edwin C. Barnes, he demonstrates that anything one puts his or her mind to can be produced and conceived.
For the purposes of our assignment I will attempt to put Richard Branson in a sort of box that he would surely object to and would certainly pop out of like a jack-in-the- box.
Having over 400 companies must take a ridiculous amount of time to manage leaving little time to enjoy the wealth Branson has earned or at least one would think. Branson is different from most CEO’s; there isn’t enough time in a day, week, month or even a year for him to manage every aspect of the Virgin Group so he has taken a different approach. Branson commonly refers to Steve Job’s, his entrepreneurial hero, style of leadership saying he was autocratic and made Apple a great company by selecting employees that were like-minded and would follow his every instruction, but this isn’t how Branson leads. Instead of managing everyone and being a somewhat of a dictator within his companies, Branson believes in his staff and gives them a lot of control over the business. His priorities in his business is to put his employees first, customers second, and investors third. He shows this by carefully selecting people within the company who he thinks can run a specific company within the Virgin Group better then he himself, then he delegates the particular business to this person or persons (Vries, 2003). This allows for people to in a sense be there own boss, call the shots and if something fails he pushes his employees to keep trying and to never give up. Richard says, “that if you are not always there, it forces other
...it as a class assignment. After reading a bit more, I found myself sneaking off to go read his book. I was amazed that he sacrificed and suffered for his dream at some points for his dream. I thought everything that happened in his life was fascinating. By the end of his book I was wanting more. I researched him more and watched videos of him publicly speaking. I looked up image of his buildings and was amazed by the way they looked. I couldn't believe this beautiful place was a center for low income families to learn new job skills and become successful. His young life was difficult but once he was on his own he needed no one to make his dreams possible. I refused to be told no. I think the rest of my life I will remember reading this book and how inspirational it was. I will never forget his teachings. He shows to always follow your heart and you will be happy.
These words guided Bob to his riches, until one day he asked Rosalina a question that he had wished he had never spoken. “Rosalina, although you help me with my financial decisions, I am curious to know how my business’ prosperity appears in the years to come.”