Most business autobiographies chronicle a careful ascent up corporate ladders, but Richard Branson's second memoir reveals something far more radical: how breaking every conventional rule of business leadership can build a multi-billion dollar empire. Branson proves that the most successful entrepreneurs don't graduate from business school—they drop out of high school and learn by crashing headfir…
by Richard Branson
Contents
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by Paul Anthony Cartledge
Book summary
by Richard Branson
Most business autobiographies chronicle a careful ascent up corporate ladders, but Richard Branson's second memoir reveals something far more radical: how breaking every conventional rule of business leadership can build a multi-billion dollar empire. Branson proves that the most successful entrepreneurs don't graduate from business school—they drop out of high school and learn by crashing headfirst into impossible challenges. His Virgin Group didn't succeed despite his dyslexia, risk-taking, and refusal to wear suits; it succeeded because these apparent weaknesses became his greatest competitive advantages.
Branson's "Screw It, Let's Do It" philosophy drives every major business decision, from launching Virgin Atlantic with a single leased Boeing 747 to betting Virgin's entire future on renewable energy ventures. When British Airways launched a vicious campaign to destroy Virgin Atlantic—stealing customer data, spreading false rumors, and poaching staff—conventional wisdom demanded a careful legal response. Instead, Branson turned the attack into a marketing goldmine, suing BA for libel and donating the settlement money to Virgin employees while publicly branding the competitor as "Dirty Tricks Airways." The scandal that should have destroyed Virgin Atlantic instead catapulted it to international fame and customer loyalty.
The book reveals Branson's "Yes, Then Figure Out How" decision-making framework, where Virgin commits to seemingly impossible ventures before developing the capabilities to deliver them. When Virgin announced plans to launch commercial space travel through Virgin Galactic, the company had no spacecraft, no safety protocols, and no regulatory approval. Traditional business planning would demand these fundamentals first. Branson's approach inverted the sequence: make the bold public commitment, then marshal resources to make it reality. This strategy forced Virgin to attract top aerospace talent, secure regulatory partnerships, and build breakthrough technology at unprecedented speed.
Branson's leadership model centers on what he calls "Employee First, Customer Second" thinking—the counterintuitive belief that obsessing over employee happiness automatically creates superior customer experiences. Virgin's famous corporate culture of unlimited vacation, casual dress codes, and employee ownership stakes wasn't born from progressive ideology but from hard-nosed business logic. Happy employees create remarkable customer experiences, which generate higher profits and market share. This virtuous cycle powered Virgin's expansion across industries as diverse as airlines, music retail, mobile phones, and space tourism. For executives building company culture, Branson demonstrates that employee-centric policies aren't costs to be minimized but investments that compound over decades into sustainable competitive advantages.
Global business icon Richard Branson has written many books, but none have been more popular than his first memoir, 1998's Losing My Virginity. Now he's finally publishing his second volume of memoirs, covering all of his fascinating ups and downs of the past two decades.
Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson belongs on the short shelf of books that change how you notice decisions in the wild. Whether you agree with every claim or not, the frame it offers is portable: you can apply it in meetings, investing, hiring, and personal trade-offs without carrying the whole volume.
Many readers return to this book because it names patterns that felt familiar but unnamed. Naming is leverage: once you can point to a mechanism, you can design around it. One through-line is “Screw It, Let's Do It Philosophy: Branson's core decision-making principle that favors bold action over extended analysis. When Virgin received an offer to buy a small airline, most executives would h” and its implications for judgment under uncertainty.
If you are reading for execution, translate each chapter into a testable habit: one prompt before a big decision, one review question after a project, one constraint you will respect next quarter. Theory becomes useful when it shows up in calendars, not only in margins.
Finally, pair this book with opposing voices. The strongest readers stress-test the thesis against cases where the advice fails, note the boundary conditions, and keep a short list of when not to use this lens. That discipline is how summaries become judgment.
Long-form books reward spaced attention: read a chapter, sleep, then write a half-page memo titled “What would I do differently on Monday?” If you cannot answer with specifics, the idea has not yet landed.
Use Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography as a conversation starter with peers who have different incentives. The disagreements often reveal which parts of the book are robust and which are fragile when power, risk, and time horizons change.
