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Management gems from Richard Branson
October 3, 2008
'All you have in life is your reputation'
I'm inquisitive. . . and I love a new challenge. . . and if I feel that we can do it better than it's been done by other people, we'll have a go. Some people call that 'brand stretching' and say that this is not the way business should be done, and in the Western world generally it's not the way business is done. And I think to be perfectly frank the reason it's not done that way is that most big companies are public. . .
All you have in life is your reputation: you may be very rich, but if you lose your good name, then you'll never be happy. The thought will always lurk at the back of your mind that people don't trust you. I had never really focused on what a good name meant before, but that night in prison made me understand.
My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable, challenges and trying to rise above them.
To be successful, you have to be out there, you have to hit the ground running, and if you have a good team around you and more than a fair share of luck, you might make something happen. But you certainly can't guarantee it just by following someone else's formula.
Image: Richard Branson set to eat a scorpion at the launch of Virgin Media at Convent Garden Market in London, England. | Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Also read: 11.2 million % inflation! How is Zimbabwe surviving?
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