Business Stripped Bare

Now, all of you who've heard of Richard Branson can probably guess how this book reads. For those of you who haven't, Business Stripped Bare is a rollicking adventure story. It's a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants primer on how to run a business, treat people well, and live with your heart wide open. Needless to say, the pages just whizz by.

So, who should read Business Stripped Bare? Well, to be frank, everyone in business should, whether you're a CEO, an entry level employee, or do any job in between. Branson's life lessons apply no matter what you do, or how many people you're responsible for.

In this book you learn why it's so important to treat others as well as, or better, than you treat yourself. You learn why having a sense of social responsibility in everything you do will not only help you sleep at night, but will make you happier than a big paycheck ever could.

You learn why it's so important to trust your gut instincts, and start engaging your emotions more at work, instead of less.

And, you learn why taking chances and not being afraid is worth the occasional stumble and fall. As Branson shows us time and time again, when you get back up, you're always stronger than you were before.

These are lessons that all of us can benefit from, and Branson's experiences create the perfect backdrop for doing so. His writing is engaging and fun, and some of the stories will make you wonder if he's really mortal like the rest of us. But, he does devote an entire chapter to his mistakes and setbacks, which allows the Clark Kent side of his Superman life to come through. Yes, he's only human.

Branson tackles Business Stripped Bare by, well, stripping his business bare. He looks at seven crucial areas of business, and dives deep into what is so important about each of them.

The themes he covers, giving one chapter to each, are: People, Brand, Delivery, Mistakes and Setbacks, Innovation, Leadership, and Social Responsibility.

So, keep listening to find out what inspired Branson to start his multi-billion dollar airline company, why he considers simplicity to be a business's most important feature, and why he throws a lot of parties.

Business Stripped Bare starts off by talking about people, and there's a good reason why Branson put this chapter first. In his opinion, people are what make the world go round, and every time he starts a new business, one of the first things he does is look for the right people to help him run it.

What's interesting is that he rarely considers people's degrees or past experience when sizing them up for a job. Instead, he looks at their attitude and personality. Are they excited about life? Do they enjoy working with others? Do they smile?

Most hiring managers might think these are trivial questions to ask, but to Branson, these things lie at the heart of finding the right people. According to him, you can have the best education money can buy, but if you don't have talent or a lust for life, you're not going to do much.

So finding the right people to work in a company is vital, and this is especially true of managers. Every senior executive he hires has to care just as much about the cleaning staff as they do about their fellow managers.

Branson also realizes that, in many companies, there's a huge disconnect between the people on the ground and the people in the boardroom. He's tried hard to make sure this doesn't happen in any of his companies.

Take his Virgin Blue Airlines company, for instance. Once every quarter, all of his top managers have to get up at four a.m. and work a full shift with the baggage handlers. They chuck bags for eight hours, which keeps them well aware of the hassles and problems of the job.

Most airlines view their baggage handlers as the bottom rung of the ladder in terms of importance. But when you think about it, these are people who have a huge impact on plane turnaround time. So, Virgin Blue treats them like they should be treated. They're called The Pit Crew, and instead of having non-descript, drab uniforms, they're decked out in Ferrari red. They're made to feel important, and as a result Virgin Blue's turnaround time is virtually off the top of the scale.

This initiative isn't an isolated case. Branson has structured all his companies to put people first. He says that we all only live once, and we spend most of our time at work. If we can't feel good about what we're doing, then what's the point?

Readers will get a serious wake-up call in this chapter. Why? Because you get to see what happens when ideas like fun and excitement are introduced into the workplace. You get to see what it's like to shed mediocrity and do something that really excites you and gets your blood pumping.

Branson's stories are electric, and once you're done with this chapter you really understand why freeing yourself, and your people, to think independently can open up a whole new world of possibilities in your business.

The next business theme he covers is branding, and this is where we really learn about what drives his companies. Although the Virgin Group funds or owns dozens of different organizations by now, they all basically have the same philosophy.

Branson's main goal with his Virgin brand is to give his customers the same type of experience, no matter which of his services they're using. Whether they're on a plane, traveling by train, investing in a pension fund, or visiting a health club, he wants them to have a similar experience. Virgin customers get a high-quality product for a low cost, they're treated well, and they have fun.

Although Branson is brutally honest throughout the entire book, this chapter seems to have particular resonance. Too many companies, he says, try way too hard to be something they're not. They want their customers to think of them as the perfect company, selling the perfect product, with a perfect brand image to back that up.

But he feels that this march toward perfection only results in blandness. There's no character in these companies, and as a result, there's no real trust.

Branson explains how he tried to create a different kind of organization. He tells the story of his experience starting Virgin Records, and how that first company shaped his ideas of what a brand really can be.

The striking thing about this chapter is that it will make you look at what your own brand can be, if you're brave enough to truly examine what it is you're offering to people. What promises are you making? Are you living up to those promises?

For most people, most of the time, he says, fully delivering on promises is too much work. Companies would rather stick with the status quo. Why? Because it's easier. But Branson urges us to imagine what could be possible if we just have some backbone and a little curiosity.

If you enjoy stories about new companies turning established industries on their heads, then you won't want to miss the next chapter, which covers delivery. Here, Branson goes into some of the real nuts and bolts of his businesses. And, many of the lessons and stories he tells are priceless.

For instance, he got the idea to start an airline business by being a frequent flier himself. He was spending a great deal of time flying from one part of the world to the other, and having a miserable time of it. There was nothing he enjoyed about flying.

Well, in the early 80s, serendipity struck. His flight to Puerto Rico was canceled suddenly, leaving him and a plane full of other island-bound passengers stranded. Branson had finally had enough, and after making a few phone calls he chartered a private plane, divvied up the fare between the other passengers, and got everyone to Puerto Rico for a measly thirty-nine dollars a head.

And that's when he decided he was going to start his own airline.

The tale is thrilling. Branson had a mere four months to learn everything about the airline industry, and he managed to pull off the whole affair by the skin of his teeth. The lessons he learned in the process, however, are cornerstones that everyone in business should pay attention to.

One of these is how important it is to protect yourself. He urges everyone to make sure that if a business decision falls like a house of cards, you've left yourself a way out, and have protected your other operations so that no matter what, you can keep going.

Another important bit of wisdom we get from this chapter is how important it is to keep things simple. Branson feels that, no matter what the industry, things can always be boiled down to an easy-to-understand explanation.

Business leaders who try to make their industries into complex puzzles or chess games are just trying to pat themselves on the back.

His advice? Learn your industry, and then simplify it. If you're thinking that's easier said than done, he'd probably agree. Simplicity takes intelligence and self-discipline, he says. It takes work and courage, and a willingness to leave your ego at the door. He urges you to look at your company like a brand new customer would. If you can truly do that, then you can improve and make things better for them.

This is an incredibly insightful chapter for anyone in the business world. Branson has gone through the school of hard knocks to learn these lessons, and he passes along his hard-won wisdom through funny tales about near misses and narrow-won victories. It's a thrilling ride, and it's hard to imagine any reader being disappointed in the lessons he teaches here.

The last four chapters cover mistakes and setbacks, innovation, leadership, and social responsibility. Branson outlines some really memorable lessons and, like the first half the book, the pace is fast and furious.

For instance, in the chapter on leadership, Branson tells us what he thinks are the defining characteristics of a good leader. According to him, the best leaders have the ability to distinguish between real and apparent danger. This, he says, is true whether you're running a company or leading a mountaineering expedition.

Good leaders must be willing to face up to the challenges in front of them, and not shrink away from what looks like a hard road. And it's also vital that leaders not overreact at the first signs of trouble.

But, Branson also gives us another important lesson when it comes to inspiring our teams. His advice? Have lots and lots of parties.

Before you laugh and pass that one off as a joke, here's why he's serious: parties are a way for people to relax and let loose. They're a way to bring people together and cement a great business culture. And you can probably guess, Virgin companies spend a lot of money on parties. And, it pays off.

Business Stripped Bare is Branson's story of his life as an entrepreneur. But it's much, much more than that. He clearly wants us to learn from his mistakes and his revolutionary ideas so we can, hopefully, transform our own organizations so that they really put people first.

Reading this book is sort of like going on a water slide or rollercoaster ride. Branson pulls us along effortlessly, and by the time we're done, we're breathless and laughing from the sheer fun of it.

Think we're joking? We're not. This book really is that fun to read.

But again, it's much more than that. It's also inspiring. By the end of the book, you really feel that business does have a greater responsibility in this world than just to make money and sell products.

Business has the power to engage people, to make them excited about what they're doing and enable them to live a rich and rewarding life. Business has the power to effect positive change in the world, and to take you on the ride of your life, if you're ready and willing.

And perhaps most importantly, business can help bring caring and compassion into the world. Branson stresses that it doesn't have to be big; any company can do something small to better the life of someone else.

Although Branson doesn't really give instructions on how to do all these things, he doesn't need to. Time and time again, he says that, for the most part, people underestimate themselves. We really do have the power to change things and make things better, if only we believe that we can. He empowers us to look at our unique strengths and abilities, and take action on issues close to our heart.

By the end of the book, you really will believe that you can do something remarkable.

Branson sums it all up in the final three sentences of the book. He says, "In business, as in life, all that matters is that you do something positive. Thanks for reading – and enjoy your life. You only get one."

Business Stripped Bare, by Richard Branson, is published in hardback by, you guessed it, Virgin Books.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights.