Manage-Wise

Don’t lead sheep, herd cats

Don’t lead sheep; herd cats—that’s the Branson style of leadership. Rather than expect people to follow blindly where he leads, he relies on his ability to get the best from individuals by creating a challenging environment. Like herding cats, it’s much harder to do but a lot more lively.

In many ways, the Virgin boss is the archetypal leader of the future. He rarely coerces, inspiring instead. He possesses that most precious of all leadership assets—credibility. You could say he obtains the best performance from the people around him not through threats but through pure adulation. Alternatively, he is a just a fairly talented entrepreneur carried along by his own enthusiasm and a long run of luck. Unlikely. In reality, it is because he doesn’t “play” the big leader like an actor, but works hard at it, that he is so effective in the role. What Branson understands better than most is that leadership is an art: but one that is more akin to the skill of the orchestra conductor than the soloist.

Leadership is, perhaps, the most difficult of all human attributes to define. In terms of style of leadership, there is much to be said for timing. Cometh the hour, as they say, cometh the man. Whatever else we think about the business leaders of the 21st century, it seems clear that in terms of style they will be more Branson than Lord Hanson. The days of the asset strippers are numbered. The ability to manage start-ups and put empires together is more valued than that of selling off the family silver.

But all the style in the world cannot compensate for a lack of substance. Perhaps that is why inadequate business leaders prefer to hide behind their job titles and status symbols, relying on hierarchical power for their authority. Successful entrepreneurs, on the other hand, have tended to be figures of awe; inspiring fear and wonder in equal measure.

Today, we are less impressed with either of these styles. The modern view is that leadership relies on people being willing to follow. When Richard Branson started out in business back in the 1960s there was little to suggest that command and control was crumbling, certainly not in the corporate world. By discarding hierarchical power in favour of inspirational leadership, Branson was 25 years ahead of his time.

Leading from the rear

One of the characteristics of the Branson leadership style is knowing when to get out the way and let people get on with it. The way that Virgin is structured means he really has no choice. With 200 and upwards companies in the Virgin family—it is hard to keep count—it simply isn’t feasible to think he could be hands-on boss of all of them. Whether by luck or design; then, Branson is forced to be a back-seat leader. (The one company that he doesn’t seem able to leave alone is Virgin Atlantic.)

By and large, though, the hands-off leadership style is highly beneficial. Managers in the group enjoy the opportunity of running their own show; they find it highly motivating. Unlike most companies, too, they don’t waste time on unnecessary meetings and pointless reports to give corporate headquarters something to do.

So if he isn’t running the business on a day-to-day basis what does Virgin’s backseat leader actually do? It’s hard to describe exactly. You could say, he enthuses other people, contributing to the buzz that emanates from every part of the group.

Beyond that, Branson is also important as a figurehead for the Virgin brand. He puts his full support behind new ventures. The publicity he generates, promotes all of the companies in the group. These days, he has to ration his personal appearances to one or two media events per business per year.

But there is something more to the Branson leadership model. He stands for something that makes people feel good to work for his company, a set of values that are important to Virgin employees. It’s hard to pin down exactly what those values are, but they have something to do with running a business for a purpose other than purely profit.

Catalytic converter

Another vital aspect of Branson’s role as “leader” of Virgin is that of planning the future. Unlike business visionaries such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and Intel’s Andy Grove, however, he is not in the business of crystal ball gazing or strategising. Rather, Branson is a prospector, panning the multitude of business ideas that Virgin attracts for nuggets of purest gold.

He is always on the lookout for new business ventures. He and his two expert advisers consider somewhere close to 50 propositions a week. Most will be rejected out of hand, but if there is a gleam of opportunity for a new Virgin company they will take along hard look.

It is one thing to recognise potential for a business, and quite another thing to make it a reality. This is one of Branson’s secrets: the ability to make things happen. He is the catalyst that triggers a chain reaction that transforms potential energy in a project or idea into kinetic energy that sends people scurrying in a thousand directions.

When the business consultant Don Cruickshank was brought in as group managing director to prepare Virgin for privatisation, he quickly realised that trying to get Branson to fit into a conventional organisational structure was pointless—and would be self-defeating. Instead, he sensibly concluded, the company would have to be structured around its energetic chairman.

Recognising his talent for enthusing others, Cruickshank, the ex-McKinsey consultant, encouraged Branson to “continue to dream up new ideas, to look at bewildering array of new ventures and to start more companies in two years than most entrepreneurs do in their whole careers.”

Branson should not try to alter his nature, Cruickshank warned. Instead he should stick to what he is really good at: motivating others and passing on his confidence and belief that every new project would succeed. In short, Branson should devote all his energy to acting as a catalyst. All that was needed was a corps of people to tidy up behind him, and to help him clarify what he was trying to achieve.

One of Branson’s great talents is getting people fired up about a new business idea and then letting them loose on it. His own enthusiasm is contagious, focusing excitement on a goal or destination which then allows him to step back and let others run with it. Somehow, too, he spurs people on to achievements they wouldn’t have believed were possible.

Excerpt from ‘Business the Richard Branson Way: 10 Secrets of the World’s Greatest Brand Builder’, by Des Dearlove. Published by Wiley India