Notes on The Virgin Way by Richard Branson

I just finished reading my first book by Richard Branson: The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership. I've been impressed by how prolific Branson is and the breadth of successful businesses he has started; it's also great to see how supportive he is of the global entrepreneurship scene.

It was interesting to read about his upbringing and the founding stories of many of the Virgin companies. I thought the leadership lessons and takeaways were pretty conventional (I didn't find much new in this book), and I thought that too many sections of the book read like advertisements for Virgin companies. But the stories of the unconventional strategies used by Branson and his various executive leaders were fun to read. Branson is definitely a great role model for someone who can have a ton of fun while building an enormous empire according to his own rules.

I also collected a few pithy quotes that Branson included in his book like, "A good speech is like a woman's skirt: long enough to cover the subject but short enough to create interest" (Winston Churchill), "Leadership is the ability to hide your panic in front of others" (Lao Tzu), and "Live as if you're going to die tomorrow. Learn as if you're going to live forever" (Gandhi).

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