...Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd Case Study 5/23/2012 BUS, 520 Abstract Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies. In 1970, he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and shortly afterwards he opened a record shop in London. With around 200 companies in over 30 countries, the Virgin Group has now expanded into leisure, travel, tourism, mobile, broadband, TV, radio, music festivals, finance and health and through Virgin Green Fund. (Finkle, 2011) For the purposes of this discussion I have been tasked with answering the following questions related to leadership in a question and answer format. With the first question I am to describe Branson’s leadership style in terms of the leadership models addressed in Chapters 10 and 11 of the text and evaluate the likely effectiveness of that style in the U.S. today. Afterwards I am to, recommend a different leadership style (or combination of styles) that would make Branson an even more effective leader. Along with, determining how Branson would develop and lead a global team working on a major project (e.g., space tourism). Followed by the last question where I am to discuss how you can incorporate some of Branson’s leadership qualities...
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...Abstract: My submission discusses the ways in which Richard Branson is seen as a leader. It shows which leadership theories that are used by him, in order to lead those that follow him, either through work or general enthusiasm for his leadership style, and how effectively those theories are applied. This submission covers details of Richard Branson’s early life and the beginning of his leadership. It then goes on to explain how his leadership style emerged as he began to run the Virgin Group. I then explained how Richard Branson is seen by the public, and how he has followers in the public that don’t work for him. After this, I consider which technical leadership theories are used by Richard Branson. I review how successful Richard Branson has been as a leader, by looking at how his followers respect him and follow in his footsteps. To conclude, I review Richard Branson from my own perspective. Introduction Before a leader can be analysed, one must define what leadership is. This is hard to do. It’s an intrinsic trait which is hard to define. Jackson and Parry (2008: 5) say that ‘leadership is like beauty – it is difficult to describe, but we certainly know it when we see it.' However, the general consensus is that leadership is influencing people in order to attain goals (Daft, 2008: 590). The leader that will be analysed in this essay is Richard Branson, who runs and owns the Virgin Group. He has demonstrated his leadership skills from the early age of just seventeen, when...
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...Leadership style approaches: Richard Branson’s Virgin Group LTD Case Study Sandra Cole Strayer University BUS 520 – Leadership and Organizational Behavior Professor: Dr. Jones - Ph.D. 05 January 2011 Leadership style approaches: Richard Branson’s Virgin Group LTD Case Study Branson’s leadership style in terms of the leadership models addressed in Chapters 10 and 11 and evaluates the likely effectiveness of that style in the U.S. today In determining the leadership style of Sir. Richard Branson one of the most influential, creative and charismatic leaders of business today has admired the business sense and innovative leadership style of Steve Jobs. Oddly enough, both Steve Jobs and Richard Branson both have a flair for business but both have two totally different personalities and leadership styles. It is odd to see the admiration of Steve Jobs peak the curiosity of Richard Branson as they had different ways of doing business and working with people (Branson, 2011). Leadership in the eyes of Richard Branson An article written by Richard Branson in the United Kingdom press media release in the “Telegraph”, he makes a comparison and contrast between he and Steve Jobs. Branson first identifies Steve Jobs as an Autocratic and directive leader from a situational leadership perspective. Richard Branson on the other hand sees himself being more delegative, participative, and selling as he relates to his employees and giving them their room to breathe and...
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...Sir Richard Branson BUS 520 June 4, 2012 Introduction Sir Richard Branson is the kind of entrepreneur that will take the new millennium by the throat and take society to new levels. He is the kind of leader that takes risks and is not afraid to fail. You don’t go from be a high school drop to a multi-billionaire by being afraid to take risks. Mr. Branson has not always been successful but he has always taken a leadership role in any industry that he has chosen to enter. According to Hellreigel, D. & Slocum, J., (2011), Mr. Branson through his company Virgin Group, LTD, “has turned a lifelong disdain for conventional business wisdom into a multibillion dollar global conglomerate and one of the worlds most recognized brands” (p. 344). It is this knack for unconventionality that is the key to the Branson name and the Branson legacy. Even though Mr. Branson is a very successful entrepreneur, he is not universally liked in the conventional business world. According to Hellreigel, D. & Slocum, J., (2011), “Some have suggested that Branson and the Virgin brand attract almost a cult following, and it works both ways-many people admire Branson, but some detest him” (p. 344). Mr. Branson has been on the business scene for more than 45 years and during that time frame one thing can be said for how he conducts business and that is that his employees love him which contributes to that cult like following. The author will discuss Mr. Branson’s leadership...
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...Richard Branson Strayer University Bus 520 Professor Frankenhauser Leadership is defined as the process of influencing an organized group towards accomplishing its goals. We have learned that the leader is not exclusive in the leadership process. Researchers Fred Fiedler and Hollander recognized this and introduced the importance of the follower and the situation in the leadership process. Richard Branson is considered one of the most unorthodox business men of the 21st century. At the helm at the mega firm Virgin Group LTD, Branson has defied conventional management and leadership wisdom. Through all his accomplishments, Branson’s amazing leadership skills cannot be mentioned in a vacuum. There is an interactional relationship between a leader, his or her followers and the situations in which they interact. This paper will analyze Branson as a leader. However, because his leadership success is not mutually exclusive, his followers and the important situations that define his career will be addressed. Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is the son of a lawyer named Edward Branson and an airline flight attendant named Eve Huntley-Flindt; born on July 18, 1950, in Surrey, England. At an early age he strived for more and this was due to “his parent’s upbringing, which taught him to stand on his own two feet.” His parents took extreme measures to encourage their children’s independence. At four years old Richard’s mother pushed him out of the car and told Richard to find his...
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...Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd Case Study Sharon Dunbar Dr. Tressa Shavers BUS 520 March 1,2012 Overview – Virgin Group, Ltd. The Virgin Group, Ltd. is a British based venture capital organization founded by Richard Branson, incorporated in 1989. The focus of their business group is travel, entertainment, and lifestyle, and while actually incorporating as a venture capital group in the late 1980s, they had a number of activities in the 1970s. To date, Virgin has created more than 300 companies globally, employing over 50,000 people in 30 countries. In 2009, global revenues exceeded $18 billion US with a portfolio that continues to grow. The company believes in making a difference, and is quite particular about the manner in which they invest, or assist in marketing new ventures. Several things appear to ensure that anything that has a Virgin brand is successful: 1) the brand, 2) Richard Branson’s reputation; 3) empowering of talent; and 4) the management style engendered by Branson which flows down to almost every aspect of the organization. The company prides itself on sound, sustainable philosophies and posits the notion that there are six identifiers that characterize the company: • Lower the carbon footprint of all Virgin represented projects • The Gaia concept – one living world – use the planet’s resources responsibly • Equality...
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...Melissa Pearl Managerial Leadership 11/20/2011 Leader of the Century Award Nomination This letter serves as my nomination of the Leader of the Century award for Sir Richard Branson. I feel that this award is presented to someone who demonstrates integrity and honesty, is an inspiration to others and possesses the ability to learn from himself and others, no matter the situation. These are all characteristics of an effective leader such as Richard Branson. Branson’s predominant leadership style is charismatic. This is based on referent power as this type of leader is admired by their followers; people want to be like him and are eager to emulate his success. Typically, charismatic leaders have a high level of need for power, and have the ability to motivate others to go above and beyond what is required. They are imaginative, and innovative, thinking that risking life is part of doing business. Being innovative has led to many successful businesses in many different sections. Charismatic leaders “act in unconventional ways, and use unconventional means to transcend the status quo and create change” (Daft, p.322). Richard Branson loves unconventional ways, advertising on blimps over stadiums with a football game in session, frequent hot-balloon rides, and the purchase of his own personal island. I have chosen this style of leadership because although he possesses a high level of authority being the CEO of a large company, Branson doesn’t use external power or authority to...
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...RICHARD BRANSON BUSINESS LEADERSHIP ANALYSIS University of Colorado Denver Business School 1475 Lawrence Street Denver, Colorado, 80202 A. EARLY HISTORY Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born on July 18th 1950 in Surry, England (Branson, 2009). Branson’s father was a barrister, a particular type of lawyer in the English law system. Branson’s mother was a flight attendant. Dyslexic since he was a child Branson never excelled academically; however, Branson did show promise as a leader early in life. After being moved from the Scaitcliffe School to the Stowe School, a boarding school, for being a “menace” he quickly became the captain of his cricket and soccer teams. Branson would later state that his ability in sports contributed to his confidence as a young entrepreneur (Branson, 2007). B. PROFESSIONAL HISTORY At the age of 16 Branson dropped out of the Stowe School to start a youth culture magazine called Student. Student was launched in 1966 as a, for students by students magazine. Branson made a list of the 50 top advertisers in the UK and one by one made phone calls selling the magazine’s advertising space. Richard ran the first edition of 50,000 copies for free, after he covered the cost of production with adverting revenues (Knappenberger, 2011). In 1969 Branson began his virgin empire with the launch of a mail order record service. By 1972 the mail order record service provided Branson with the capital to start his own recording studio in Oxfordshire...
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...Branson’s leadership style and its effectiveness in the U.S. today Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group Ltd., is a London based businessperson who turned the conventional business wisdom to a diverse business with a unique style. Today, the Virgin Group is one of world’s most recognizable brands in different lines of businesses such as retail stores, air travel, financial services, books and music, and telecommunications. The Virgin Group is a multibillion-dollar company with approximately 50,000 employees and more than $20 billion in annual sales (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2011), Transformational leadership involves influencing the followers through the leader’s behaviors and abilities. Transformational leaders create vision for the organization and embrace the change to achieve the goal by following set of rules with the strong beliefs, anticipating the future barriers, and empowering the followers to be leaders by inspiring through motivation, and intellectual stimulation. Transformational leaders are risk-takers. They are quite challenging and compassionate at the same time with high integrity. Sir Richard Branson’s dominant leadership style is transformational in many aspects. Branson communicates in open, candidly and clearly about the setbacks in his business career. Three of the setbacks he openly discussed with many are the launch of MP3 player, which was a total disaster, holding Virgin MegaStore retail...
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...Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study Assignment 4 Professor Leadership and Organizational Behavior February 26, 2012 Since the beginning of history humans have lived in groups guided by the group leader; in which leader is either chosen for his characteristics or born into through cast. No matter the culture this is similar through the human race. Humans need someone to guide them, teach them, someone to look up to. Without followers there is no leader. “That is, leader is a term applied by observers to someone whose behaviors and characteristics match the observers’ implicit leadership preferences” (Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W., Jr. (2011). They are different type of leaders and leadership style depending on the situation and solution needed at that moment by the followers. In my opinion good leaders have shown to be flexible enough to switch between leadership styles depending on the demands of the situation. One of the worlds most intriguing, succesful and enduring entrepreneurial business leaders today is Richard Branson, someone who takes control of the situation by conveying a clear vision and goals for the team, a marked passion for the work and an ability to make the group feel recharged and energized. I consider Richard Branson to be a transformational leader, a leader with vision, confident, motivation, passion and determination. He is the founder of Virgin Group Ltd. “Born July 18, 1950, in Surrey, England, Sir...
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...The Virgin Group, LTD Roxanna Farris Professor: Trista Avent Organization Behavior August 26, 2012 The Virgin Group, LTD 1. Describe Branson’s leadership style in terms of the leadership models addressed in Chapters 10 and 11 and evaluate the likely effectiveness of that style in the U.S. today. Sir Branson’s leadership style is the combination of authentic and transformational. He believes in hiring staff that have the skills to perform effectively. The authentic leadership style leads the way to his skill to work with the understanding that people make mistakes and they can be corrected while the work continues. As a transformational leader he demonstrates the capability needed to foresee company development, inspire and empower staff. With these attributes it requires him to have balance as a leader in the day-to-day working environment while creating a productive work environment and focusing on company goals. According to Chapter 1, “Leadership is the process of developing ideas and a vision, living by values that support those ideas and that vision, influencing others to embrace them in their own behaviors and making hard decisions about human and other resources”. (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, pg. 290). Even though the company has taken losses from different endeavors the CEO continues to envision new ways to transform the business to newer heights. Because of his compassion for his workers, the concept to work harder and smarter helps the...
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...Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born on July 18, 1950 in Surrey, England. His parents both worked blue collar jobs with average pay. At the age of 13 he transferred from an all-boys school to a boarding school. In the year 1966 Richard, noted to have dyslexia, dropped out of school at the age of 16. It was at this time that he actually began his first business endeavor. He started a youth-culture magazine by the name Student. This magazine which was ran by students, simply for students, grossed $8,000 on its first publication. Once Branson covered the costs with advertisings, the first print of 50,000 copies was distributed for free. Just 4 year later Branson began a record mail order business. A year later he founded chain of record stores, currently known as Virgin Megastores. Branson's Virgin brand expanded quickly throughout the 80’s. He went on to make the Virgin Records music label much larger, as well as, to create Virgin Atlantic Airways. The Sunday Times Rich List reports him to be worth over £4 billion (equivalent to US$7.8 billion). Sir Richard Branson is an anomaly. He started out a high school dropout and worked his way to being a multi-billionaire. Mr. Branson has become an icon as a leader in his business endeavors and the industries in which they are in. According to Hellreigel, D. & Slocum, J., (2011), through his company Virgin Group, LTD, Mr. Branson “has turned a lifelong disdain for conventional business wisdom into a multibillion dollar global...
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...Assignment 4: Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study Due Week 8 and worth 100 points Read the Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. case study located in Chapter 11. Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you: 1. Describe Branson’s leadership style in terms of the leadership models addressed in Chapters 10 and 11 and evaluate the likely effectiveness of that style in the U.S. today. 2. Recommend a different leadership style (or combination of styles) that would make Branson an even more effective leader. 3. Determine how Branson would develop and lead a global team working on a major project (e.g., space tourism). 4. Discuss how you can incorporate some of Branson’s leadership qualities into you role at work or school. 5. Include three (3) external peer-reviewed sources to support your position. Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: • Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. • Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length. The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are: • Explain the variety of leadership theories and roles. • Analyze...
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...INTRODUCTION Leadership is defined as the process of influencing an organized group towards accomplishing its goals.[1] We have learned that the leader is not exclusive in the leadership process. Researchers Fred Fiedler and Hollander recognized this and introduced the importance of the follower and the situation in the leadership process. Richard Branson is considered one of the most unorthodox business men of the 21st century. At the helm at the mega firm Virgin Group Ltd, Branson has defied conventional management and leadership wisdom. Through all his accomplishments, Branson’s amazing leadership skills cannot be mentioned in a vacuum. There is an interactional relationship between a leader, his or her followers and the situations in which they interact. This paper will analyze Branson as a leader. However, because his leadership success is not mutually exclusive, his followers and the important situations that define his career will be addressed. AN OVERVIEW OF BRANSON AND THE VIRGIN GROUP Biography Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is the son of a lawyer named Edward Branson and an airline stewardess named Eve Huntley-Flindt; born on July 18, 1950 in Surrey, England. At an early age he strived for more and this was due to “his parent’s upbringing, which taught him to stand on his own two feet”. His parents took extreme measures to encourage their children’s independence. At four years old Richard’s mother pushed him out of the car and told Richard to find his own...
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...Branson has been tagged as a 'transformational leader' by management lexicon, with his maverick strategies and his stress on the Virgin Group as an organization driven on informality and information, one that's bottom heavy rather than strangled by top-level management. Although Branson says his success was not planned, and it just happened, he has said that he has 10 secrets to success: 1. You've got to challenge the big ones. 2. Keep it casual. 3. Haggle: everything is negotiable. 4. Have fun working. 5. Do the right things for the brand. 6. Smile for the cameras! 7. Don't lead "sheep", herd "cats". 8. Move like a bullet. 9. Size does matter. 10. Be a common, regular person. He was 9th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, worth just over £3billion. He is the No 1 Admired Businessman in Britain, and 2nd choice amongst youth for Prime Minister (after Tony Blair)[3]. He has a cameo appearance in the new Superman film, credited as "Shuttle Engineer", alongside his son Sam, with Virgin Galactic-esque commercial suborbital shuttle at the center of his storyline. He will have a cameo in the upcoming James Bond film Casino Royale as well. Although Branson says his success was not planned, and it 1. Introduction on team work 2. Richerd philosophy of team work 3. Example of team work 4. Some picture demonstrate team work Words of Wisdom Branson on building a business Don't bother doing something unless you're radically...
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