Put employees first: Sir Richard Branson
18 November 2005
Sir Richard Branson, founder, Virgin Records and Virgin
Atlantic says corporations should put their employees
ahead of customers and shareholders to build sustainable
businesses. Rex Mathew reports.
Delivering
the fourth annual Madhavrao Scindia memoral lecture on
leadership and building successful businesses in New Delhi
yesterday, Sir Richard Branson, founder of the hugely
successful Virgin Atlantic, started with Mahatma Gandhi''s
famous remark on customer service. He said, though he
does not want to argue with Mahatma Gandhi, at Virgin
he does things in a slightly different manner.
Outlining the Virgin management mantra, Sir Richard said happy employees keep customers happy. A lot of happy customers would create a lot of happiness to shareholders as well. Without good people, corporations are worth nothing. And to motivate people, corporations should create a fun environment to work. Employees should feel that it is a crusade, not just another job.
Brand
Building
Branson
recalled the early days of the Virgin brand, which is
now the eighth most well-known brand globally. After his
mail order music store became successful, Branson and
his team were working on creating a distinct identity
for the business. They finally short listed two names
Virgin and Slip Disc. Luckily, as Sir Richard said,
they chose Virgin as it would have been rather difficult
to imagine an airline called Slip Disc.
The
now famous Virgin logo also had a very interesting beginning.
Branson and his team were working with a graphic artist
on the logo. The artist grew increasingly frustrated and
threw away some of the designs. Luckily, once again, on
his way to the loo Branson picked up one of the crumpled
bits of paper from the floor. The scribble on that bit
of paper became the very distinct and stylish Virgin logo.
Life was not always smooth for the Virgin brand. The application for a copyright remained with the patent office for three long years as the name was considered ''too rude''. The brand has had its difficult periods when some of the product launches, notably drinking products, were not as successful.
On
competition
"Competition
is not about eliminating your competitors" he points
out. But most corporations and executives try all the
time to kill their competitors and create monopolies for
themselves. Conventional businesses work on the principle
of "minimum competition for themselves and maximum
competition for their suppliers".