[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] Richard Branson ladies and gentlemen. We are thrilled to have you. You dont need introduction but you started over 400 companies in your career managing businesses over five decades. Im sure there will be valuable insight you can provide to all Business Owners so screw it and lets do it. This is great for me but you started this as a kid 16 years old then went to launch Virgin Records that isnt an easy business you had no experience so talk about this entrepreneurial spirit as 16 years old where did this come from . First of all hello and thanks for a lovely welcome. [applause] you had Sarah Blakely here earlier did she tell a story . [laughter] she was very young but she did very well and she survived. [laughter] but we are very pleased. But you had a question for me . [laughter] but yes. I was interested as a young 14yearold what was going on around the world. And i was inquisitive. And the vietnamese war was raging and it seemed to me it was not just first of all and i wanted to campaign but there was no Young Persons magazine at the time and it is quite strange because i am dyslexic. [laughter] so then to think i could be an editor but anyway i thought i could give it a shot. So i decided to be cool and start a magazine to campaign to reform education with capital issues like the vietnamese war and other wars at the time. I never thought i was becoming the entrepreneur i did not even know that word existed. In britain all businesses were run by governments really. Telekom, airways so the word entrepreneur did not exist. But in starting the magazine, i had no money so i had to worry about printing and distribution and selling it and that started to take up a lot of time. And survival was very important because you couldnt raise money to start your Business Funding from them wanting to buy advertising. So i learned the art in the jungle trying to survive and that became my education. And it was a lot of fun and one thing led to another. You said it was survival and struggling that is exactly what you do. You yourself said you knew very little about music its a great story how do you get into the music business and then become such a powerhouse . First of all you have to come up with the name as a 15 or 16yearold sitting in the basement. [laughter] one of the girls sitting there with me said we are all virgins and we started to laugh hysterically so the only other name was skip to disk records. So we went with virgin. It took us four years for the registry they claimed it was rude after three or four years i wrote them a letter to say virgin is the opposite it is pure and untouched and unblemished and everything is perfect so finally they gave in. [applause] im not sure how pure it was after we had it for a few years. [laughter] but then so the music business simply came about by accident. The young lad of 15 brought me a tape and i loved the music. He said no Record Company would put the music out so i said let me try a few myself so i said screw it. Lets do it we will try a Record Company and Virgin Records was born. And this 15yearold it was just music and no vocals that it was a big hit at the time minutes to get the soundtrack and it did well. And that really started the biggest independent Record Company in the world i always wanted to sign the Rolling Stones. That was so exciting. That was a great day. Is a great day to see the Rolling Stones but i had never really smoked and Keith Richard told me to roll a joint. [laughter] and ive been hopeless ever since. [laughter] so you start a magazine. This is about Small Business. Sorry. [laughter] [laughter] [applause] then you enter this terribly difficult business that most people fail to have a bunch of success so then what do they do . You start an airline. Who starts an airline . You go out to start an airline and you dont know anything about the industry or the Business Model and with that regulation with all sorts of issues what were the lessons there . So once again with the magazine the mission wasnt to make money better Record Company i started did that but they heard other people were not putting out but with the airline it is a good story i was 28 years old trying to get to the Virgin Islands it was 6 00 oclock in the evening and American Airlines decided they would bump the flight because there wasnt enough passengers. So i thought dammit i will get there somehow so i went to the airport and hired a plane with my credit card and hoped it would not bounce so Virgin Airlines one way and i told all the people i did that myself. [laughter] b17. [applause] now you could charge 49. So when we got there i better skip that part of the story. [laughter] but the next morning i called up boeing and said can i talk to your Sales Department . Id like to buy a 737. I was put through to a lovely man named rj wilson and he took the phone call and i said you have any secondhand 740 sevens for sale . He said yes we do. Tell me who you are. I said i am Richard Branson i have a Record Company named virgin who is Janet Jackson and the Rolling Stones. He said what do you want a 7474 . I said it isnt that one long that will run we could start an airline to give British Airways a run for the money. There was a long pause. [laughter] and then i am very lucky it was him on the other end later i realize how lucky i was he said richard, you said your name is richard . I will come and see you but obviously youre going to have to change the name of your company because nobody would expect an airline named virgin to go all the way. [laughter] that is good. I bet youve used up before. So he came and we got off on the 747 and that was useful business advice. [laughter] to you can imagine the people running the Record Company got into a complete panic when we were moving into the airline business. I had to convince them it would not bring the Record Company down in the most important thing in businesses protecting the downside. Most important part of the negotiation with boeing was to persuade them that if the airline did not work out that we could hand the plane back at the end of the first year. They actually agreed. They wanted to see a competitor to British Airways. And also to sharpen the price they got from British Airways. So they agreed that people love Virgin Atlantic and the rest is history. [applause] not an easy business for sure. And the fact you made it work for such a long time. We set up three Airlines Virgin america and atlantic and australia. They have all been very successful. They have been successful because of the people but the people only excel if you give them the tools to do a great job. So what was critical is that every single little detail was right we were the First Airline to introduce videos and kids who traveled on virgin would not let their parents travel any other airline because they wanted those videos with the standup bars for the firstclass passengers im sure lots of romances started. We are not the kind of airline that would bang on the Laboratory Doors either. [laughter] we were a fun airline. [laughter] do you want to change the Goldman Sachs brand . It is an interesting narrative. So lets talk about the future. So i mean space travel. Lets watch a video. One of the greatest adventures of all times managing to learn so much it was always very incredible to me. To be a part of something that change the way humans look at the world and the way we relate to each other. We have an opportunity and we do that on a landmark program. By bringing hundreds or thousands of people with a different perspective that overtime has a profound impact. Together we can make it acceptable from before now so now we can change. If your thought about going space . I would love to. If you are i would love to come with you b17. [applause] so really not takes entrepreneur to a whole new level. Talk about space and redtape has to be unbelievable with the actual process all the issues created, what does it take to get this done . You said it is that the year but what does it take . It is taking 800 wonderful engineers and technicians working day and night. But they are all completely committed to what they are doing. With another couple hundred engineers from long beach working very hard with the small satellites. And 12 years hard work. It really is a longterm investment. In what Virgin Galactic is trying to do is slightly different so what elon musk achieved last week was absolutely breathtaking. B17. [applause] that what we are doing is a spaceship shaped like spaceships and reminiscent of airplanes with the idea that people can fly space on the spaceship and then come back into earth and land in the same ship and one day develop that with the spaceships going to space with. 2. Travel. It has been a long haul. We have all three Companies Working on this tears and great moments this year we think we are finally there and over the next few months we hope it will be Virgin Galactic for the world to marvel and lockheed to achieve what they wanted to achieve. It is so much hard work is there a particular thing that is a technical challenge or practical challenge . One of the Biggest Challenges comes back into orbit. To be the most dangerous time in the past space exhibitions but you have that mechanism from Virgin Galactic comes from john shuttlecock coming back into the atmosphere so it slows itself up then it reforms again as a spaceship as it comes into land. It is a magnificent way to see the spaceship folding into a shuttlecock then come back out again. Anyway that is one of many challenges and with virgin orbit what we are trying to do is with our partners to have 2000 satellites around the earth connecting the billions of people who are not connected at all in remote parts of the world or even america. [applause] and there what we have done is taken Virgin Atlantic one of the very early 740 sevens and will fly it up at 50000 feet attached to the wing of a 747 then drop it and then it will fire and go into space from there. So we could transfer that Space Program and it is now ready hopefully this year to be into operation. [applause] you can hear in the conversation this is what i have always admired about you, a constant life learner always learning and expand your horizons. What are you learning about now . I think a good leader has to be a really good listener. Im listening to fascinating people all the time. Business people, everybody has some expertise about something in life. And i get excited by so many neat things like geothermal. Not everybody gets excited about that. If you are worried about Climate Change so i just recently have come across some Geothermal Technology for the regions of the caribbean where i happen to live all around the center of the earth if you drill down 3000 feet you come across incredible heat and if you can bring that up to the surface works 24 hours hours a day seven days a week that is a tiny amount of space compared to technology but you need more space for those. I am just very lucky. I have just come back from dubai where they are incredibly excited by the possibilities of virgin and then to be in india on sunday about it and it will be transformative. And that is the new technology. We have a test run it is just lovely to be at the birth of this technology. That would really be transformative. Mentioning the caribbean so now talk a little bit about that you have been quoted to say business as usual should no longer be an option business has to be a force for good. That is something we believe very strongly. [applause] you have been unbelievable what you are trying to do with the devastation from Hurricane Maria on a personal basis but so many others have been affected you are trying to be supportive but how do you focus and prioritize to give all your resources and businesses so talk how virgin is doing that. That is a good question. There are so many problems in this world and try to prioritize which to solve and which you dont have the energy or resources for is tough. Which is why we try to get every single business in this room even if you are a really Small Business even for the kid who was pitching to me in the court or giving me one of his product but every Single Person in this room has at least one problem even if it is trying to find a roof for the person sleeping in the street every day. If there is a problem in this world every Single Person will feel that much better for it and did six years time when they look back on their life for their career and their careers. And as the businesses get bigger you can adopt bigger podiums to use your entrepreneurial skills to take on the big problems in this world. We cannot let government solve the problems of the world they dont have those skills to do s so. [applause] and it is great fun. With that gathering. And to have people together with 300 organizations. And then we try to resolve them every year so can we use satellites so as businesses get more successful they are more entrepreneurial and aware than you get back into position when you can. That is tremendous. Culture is really important to business it matters those that are building their own cultures and businesses. Talk about the culture of your organization and the virgin organization. What has made the difference . There is something that has enhanced all the success. In looking after people at genuine sense. If i take the virgin Group Headquarters in london and we do this with the number of companies we owned 100 that we say if you want flexible thats fine working from home is fine. If you want to go on a twomonth sabbatical paid thats fine. Obviously we want people to do their job but you treat them in the adult type of way you get that adult behavior back. And you treat your people as you would treat your brothers and sisters. [laughter] some people that get along well or the way you treat your children, the phrase business is family is so misuse but it genuinely should be a family if somebody is depressed or down they should say go home and take some time off it is a Human Company and because of that i remember was that secondhand 747 took off as Virgin Atlantic we were about to have a party of a lifetime the board that flight. But the spirit of the staff was fantastic and i remember thinking if the airline survives 20 years will it still be as good . Now it is 35 years. So that is because our staff has the tools do a good job. There are some pretty crappy airlines out there if you are one of those if something was kosher food and the staff has to say to the passenger im sorry they did not put that on board today or the macrobiotic if they say that a few times they will start to get grumpy and unwelcoming but they need to be given the tools to do their job so those Little Details matter. If i am on a virgin plane i will have a notebook in my pocket and talk to the customers and the staff and write things down with lots of ideas. And then i will make sure when we get back to took those off. Not so long ago i was on the plane somebody said all the saltandpepper are stolen because people love them so much. So i called the accountant they said get rid of him we are losing a fortune. Instead we printed underneath that pinch from Virgin Atlantic that was for the best advertising things we ever did. Is there someone out there in Business Today that you really admire . There are so many people every single entrepreneur building a business it is tough. It isnt easy. And it is quite likely maybe they are past that stage as they are in this room but the entrepreneurs that picked themselves up. [applause] and even then its tough. We used to have 300 virgin megastore. Are you old enough to remember that . And then steve jobs came along. [laughter] but fortunately virgin is always reinventing itself but if we were only in the megastore business i would not be sitting here today but then we quickly moved on to the mobile phone. If you could come back to yourself as a 16yearold and give yourself one piece of advice what you have learned over the last five decades . My mom had very good advice that if i ever ever said a slightly negative for devout anybody, which i didnt do very often because she would send me to the mirror make me stand in front of them here for ten minutes and look and said it reflects so badly on you. I dont want you ever ever to say hell of anybody ever again. That is really good advice especially as a leader always looking for the best in people. If you look for the best you get the best b17 b17. We will do a quick lightning round what keeps you up at night . Hopefully my wife. [laughter] the best thing you have read this year . This professor has written these books. Your morning routine . Do you get up in the morning . Always get up really early i always live and work from home now home is on a tiny Little Island in the caribbean i go straight to the tennis court i play a tennis pro who is better than me and if the wind is up i will go kite surfing then i go have some breakfast and the day starts. But i just need to make sure the body is singing. It sounds like a great way to start the day. Not my typical monday morning in new york. [laughter]