Richard Branson

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Ask Richard: What words keep you centred and motivated when you wake up?

The power of a word should never be underestimated. Reading a perfectly penned sentence in a book, a beautiful lyric in a song, or a motivational saying is sometimes all you need to find some creative spark. When Mary Lou Goehrung asked me what words keep me centred and motivated when I wake up in the morning, I started writing a bit of a list. For anyone in need of inspiration, I hope you find these phrases useful. 

1. “Screw it, let’s do it.”

I’ve said these words countless times in my life. I love to take a risk, and I do think it’s the best way to grow – as a person and as a business. We never could have launched Virgin Records or Virgin Atlantic if we didn’t throw our hands up and repeat these words on many occasions. When somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you’re not sure you can do it, say yes and figure out how to do it later! Life is a whole lot more fun like this.

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2. “You miss 100% of the times you don’t swing.” 

My mum used to say these words over and over again, and they’ve really stuck with me. As kids, we were encouraged to give everything our very best shot. We were never allowed to let fear or laziness get in the way. Mum practised what she preached too – from taking glider lessons disguised as a boy, to enlisting in the WRENS during World War II, and touring Germany as a ballet dancer after the war. She showed us how exciting life cif when you work hard and give everything a go. Whenever I feel daunted by a prospect, but know it’s the right step to take, I repeat Mum’s words in my mind.

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3. “Only a fool never changes his mind.”

As Desmond Ford said: “To change your mind is the best evidence you have one.” I try to tell myself this every day, so I don’t get stuck in my ways and shut myself off from learning something new. In almost every conversation I have, I’m reminded by how much I still have to learn. I find this really exciting, and it’s something that gets me out of bed in the morning.

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4. “Isn’t life wonderful.” 

My dad spoke these words every day, and he really lived by them too. Dad found delight in almost everything, and he taught me how to find the positive in any given situation. It’s a wonderful way to approach life and it’s helped me to view challenges as opportunities.

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5. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.”

I can’t remember when I first said this, but it’s something I learnt when I dropped out of school at the age of 16. As a dyslexic, I’ve never been great at following rules but I’ve learnt so much more in life from experiencing things first-hand. As the name ‘Virgin’ implies, we were total rookies when we started out in business – a bunch of kids learning on the spot. We didn’t stick to the well-trodden path; we ignored the map and carved out our own path. This ‘strategy’ served us well, because we soon realised that you don’t learn to walk by following rules, you learn by doing and by falling over. The same way a small child learns to walk by trying, falling, and trying over and over again. I’m not a rebellious teenager anymore, but I’m still throwing out the rulebooks.

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I could write on and on about the words I live by – but these five phrases sum things up quite neatly. I do hope you found this useful Mary Lou (and anyone else reading!) What are some of the words that keep you motivated?

Until next month,

Richard

The dignity of peace

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Richard Branson

Published on 4 March 2022

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine has entered its second week, the often gruesome images we see now are a stark reminder that we are not dealing with a “special military operation”, as President Putin calls it. This is an all-out war of aggression, an unprovoked attack started by one nation against its peaceful neighbour.  

I’ve left no doubt of my position on this. I firmly support Ukraine’s sovereignty as an independent nation, its people’s right to choose their own destiny, free from outside interference. And so I’ve come out in favour of the strongest possible sanctions against Russia, its leaders and its economy. The free world must do what it can to force Putin and his cronies to change course and end this war. The bloodshed must stop now. The war crimes must stop. Russian troops must retreat. 

For that to happen, Russia must feel the full force of economic and social isolation. I am old enough to remember how international sanctions and consistent boycott finally brought the South African Apartheid regime to its knees. The challenge before us is one of much greater scale, but it can be done if we all, collectively and individually, make informed choices about products we consume and services we use.

Putin’s war on Ukraine, explained

As I watch the global community respond to this call for consequences in every area of civic life, from sports to culture, from academia to business, I want to be clear that my support for effective, hard-hitting sanctions does not diminish my empathy for the Russian people, the many millions who have not asked for this confrontation, and who now see their day-to-day lives uprooted and changed, possibly for a very long time to come. 

Of course, Russians don’t live in fear of cluster bombs tearing them apart in the street. No missiles will be hitting their homes as they sit down for dinner with their loved ones. That’s the everyday terror Ukrainians have to live with at this very moment. It’s the kind of terror that will traumatise so many for years to come. 

But I look at the boyish faces of captured Russian soldiers tearfully calling their mothers, and I look at the thousands defying the oppressor and demonstrating for peace in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and what I don’t see anywhere is enthusiasm for Putin’s war. All I see is fear, anxiety and the frustration of a people taken on a self-destructive journey even some of Putin’s most consistent cheerleaders never signed up for.

Global Dignity Day 2011 Finland – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Ukrainian friends understandably ask me where those anxious Russians were in the years since 2014, when Putin’s true intentions became obvious to everyone. But his war has always also been a war against his own people, against the voices that warned of his ambitions and called for a more peaceful course. Over two decades, Putin has created a system of control, intimidation, oppression, and disinformation that has all but silenced, if not killed, his critics and put all of Russia in a chokehold that is now threatening to suffocate the last remnants of civil society and a free press. It’s plain to see: as Ukrainians are robbed of their dignity by the everyday horrors of war, ordinary Russians had theirs stripped away slowly but continuously as the country slipped into totalitarianism.

Global Dignity Day 2011 Finland – President Martti Ahtisaari

In moments like these, I am reminded of the words of two giant peacemakers who I admire greatly. The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a dear friend who devoted his life to the causes of reconciliation and forgiveness, once said:

“If you want peace, make sure everyone’s dignity is intact.”

And Finland’s former President Martti Ahtisaari, himself no stranger to conflict with Russia, has always stressed that lasting peace and dignity for all are two sides of the same coin. Ukrainians deserve the dignity of sovereignty and peace. The people of Russia deserve the dignity of freedom and liberty. As the world looks for ways to end this conflict for good and keep the peace, we must find ways to achieve both.  

I’m proud we’re supporting the people of Ukraine, including through Virgin Unite donations to The Red Cross and Tabletochki, and urge everyone to do what they can to support https://www.withukraine.org/en.

My thoughts on war in Ukraine

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Richard Branson

Published on 24 February 2022

As Russian troops are crossing the border into sovereign and peaceful Ukraine, as border posts and military installations all throughout the country are coming under attack, war has returned to Europe. 

Early reports of casualties remind us, just like in 2014, that this is no longer an exercise in diplomatic posturing and sabre-rattling. Right now, Ukrainians and Russians are dying – brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers. They are paying the price for the ambitions of an authoritarian ruler who is callous and calculating about the damage he is inflicting on Ukraine, but also seems woefully unaware of the impact of his actions on Russia and the Russian people. He and his inner circle should know that this invasion will not solidify Russian control over Ukraine. It may well weaken Putin’s hold on power.

To be perfectly clear, this war is Putin’s war, and his choice alone. It’s a unilateral, unprovoked act of aggression that must not only be condemned in the strongest terms, but met with the strongest of responses. The full range of sanctions must be imposed, and Ukraine deserves the full support of the global community.

Much has been written about the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which led Ukraine to give up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in exchange for Russia’s guarantee of its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Putin’s disdain and disregard for the Memorandum have been plain to see. But if international agreements are to have any meaning, if the universal rule of law is worth aspiring to, all of us must stand up and confront this threat. Peace and prosperity cannot exist without cooperation and commitments. The alternative is Putin’s world – a corrupt dystopia benefitting the few, built on coercive control, on constant fear, and injustice. 

I feel for the millions of Ukrainians now having to live under the threat of imminent attacks. I feel for those who have already lost loved ones in the early hours of this invasion. Just two days ago, I spoke to Ukrainian President Zelensky about the situation in his country, and he raised the idea of a peace concert, to build bridges and bring people together. Instead, he and his country are under attack.

But I also wonder how ordinary Russians, people young and old, trying to get by and live their lives in peace and dignity, feel about the situation Putin has placed them in. Between Kaliningrad and Vladivostok, between Moscow and Omsk, people must watch this crisis unfold with a mixture of anxiety and fear. They stand nothing to gain from Putin’s aggression, but are at real risk of losing even more than they already lost when their country’s riches were carved up by those in power.

It doesn’t take much for people to realise when they’ve been taken for a ride, and once Russian casualties start to mount, once crippling sanctions hit the Russian economy, the wonderful and resilient Russian people may realise that they deserve better, if they haven’t known that already. However, Putin may not be defeated by sanctions alone. That can only be achieved by the people.

As many have pointed out, the West does of course have its own history of unjustified wars. But this is not the moment for whataboutism. Two wrongs don’t make a right. This is the moment for all of us to call for an end to the aggression and the bloodshed, to stand up for freedom and self-determination, for sovereignty and independence, and against the spectre of totalitarianism once again rearing its ugly head over Europe and the world. 

By Richard Branson

CEO Virgin Galactic

My thoughts on Ukraine and Russia

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Business leaders all over the world have been watching the build-up of Russian troops and equipment at the Ukrainian border with great concern. This has been a smouldering conflict for many years, with occasional flare-ups, like the illegal annexation of the Crimea by Russia in 2014.

But never in recent years has there been a greater risk of an all-out war on European soil – a war that, like so many before it, does not serve a just or legitimate objective. (It’s hard for any of us to hide our exasperation at this point. In 2022, what on earth is one country doing amassing tanks at another country’s borders?)

Richard Branson looking pensive

I’ve spent much of my adult life rallying against what I considered to be the unjust wars of our time. In March 1968, I joined tens of thousands of young people at London’s Trafalgar Square demonstrating against the Vietnam War, a rapidly escalating conflict that cost countless lives, crippled hundreds of thousands of children and adults, and ended in a humiliating defeat for the US and its allies. 35 years later, I was among the millions worldwide who took to the streets to protest the invasion of Iraq, a hawkish and reckless endeavour that destabilised the Middle East and made the world less safe.

Eight years ago, when Putin’s intentions in Ukraine had become more evident to the rest of the world, we launched an effort to mobilise Russian and Ukrainian business leaders to become advocates of a peaceful resolution between their countries. I remember numerous insightful meetings and calls with leaders and experts in politics and business, and we developed a much better understanding of the power dynamics fuelling this conflict. We also learned quickly that none of our Russian contacts, while privately opposed to Russia’s military intervention, were willing to raise their voice publicly. We issued a business statement that Western and Ukrainian business leaders were happy to sign, but we failed to get even one Russian signature because their fear of reprisals from the regime in Moscow was just too great.

Then and now, however, those I spoke to were unified in their view that any war between Russia and Ukraine would have devastating and terrible consequences. For starters, it would further isolate Russia and its president from the rest of the world and wreck the Russian economy. And of course, it would cause immense harm and suffering to people young and old trying to live in peace on either side of the border. As so often, it will be the civilian population that will bear the brunt of the aggression. Syria’s bloody civil war, in which Russian troops and mercenaries have been playing a terrible role, is a stark reminder of what’s at stake.

This is not a conflict President Putin can win in the long run. While he seems to care little what the world thinks of his geopolitical ambitions, he should care a great deal what the future prospect for his own country will be. At some point, ordinary Russians will come to realise that they deserve better, especially if the situation reaches a point where the inevitable insurgency of Ukrainians defending their homes, villages and towns brings back the haunting spectre of the Soviet failure in Afghanistan and its deadly toll on Russian sons, brothers and fathers.

For business leaders, this is the moment to come together and stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty. Even if it comes at a price, all of us should send a clear message that unilateral aggression is always unacceptable and that the international private sector will support the full range of sanctions against any nation that seeks to violate the sovereignty of another.

Richard Branson

Virgin Galactic’s Record-Breaking SpaceShipTwo Test Flight Sets Stage for Passenger Trips By 2014.

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Virgin Galactic‘s private spaceship flew higher and faster than it ever had before on Thursday (Sept. 5), giving company officials confidence that the vehicle is on track to start carrying passengers on suborbital jaunts next year.

spaceshiptwo-second-powered-flight-test

In its second-ever rocket-powered test flight, which took off Thursday morning from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo reached a maximum altitude of 65,000 feet (19,800 meters) and a top speed of Mach 1.6, or 1.6 times the speed of sound (which is about 761 mph, or 1,225 km/h, at sea level).

virgin-galactic-space-ship-two-121009d

The six-passenger space plane got up to 56,000 feet (17,000 m) and Mach 1.2 during its only previous powered flight, which occurred on April 29. SpaceShipTwo’s engine burned for 16 seconds during that first test, compared to 20 seconds on Thursday, Virgin Galactic officials said.

See the pics. URL: http://www.space.com/22662-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-second-powered-flight-photos.html

Source: http://www.space.com