“Screw it, let’s do it” Richard Branson

In recent weeks I went to a breakfast with guest speaker Sir Richard Branson. Since we are like this (you can’t see me, but I’m crossing my fingers) I call him Dickie Branson for short. Now when I say went to a breakfast, I mean I sat in a room with 1000 other Business Chicks and ate all of the food and then watched him speak from the stage.

This post is quite late in terms of blogosphere timings because I have been thinking about what my main take home points were from the morning. Obviously, I needed some extra thinking time, as the breakfast was on the 13 September. Simply put, I didn’t find it as inspiring as I hoped. He was very subdued. At one point  newsreader Natarsha Belling quoted a moving part from his auto-biography and Dickie had to admit that he didn’t remember that exact quote. Credit to him, he continued on and told another related story but it left me feeling like he hadn’t really been properly briefed.

I had possibly let my imagination run away with me and in my head I saw him pumping his fists on stage mid motivational quotes and me bursting out from the venue doors with a new inspired lease on life. So I only had myself to blame really. But since I have had over 20 days to think about it, I have two main take home points that I want to share: 

1) During the breakfast it was mentioned that his motto for business is “Screw it, let’s do it”. I do quite like this. I love the fact that for all the planning and plotting people do, at the end of the day you really just have to take a leap. It reminds me of a quote by Erica Jong: “If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more”. If you let yourself be ruled by plans and money and what if’s, then you will miss out on all of the positive changes that take place when you do something different. Bugger it, I say, let’s all go join the circus. Weeeeee! 

2) The other point that really stuck with me was when he talked about the people that he employs. Sir Richard said of potential employees "the absolute key thing is that they are kind and genuine people". Alleluia! He said that the foundation of a good business is the people that you employ. I agree 100% with this comment. Sometimes we focus so much on the superficial parts of the workplace that we lose sight of the basics. It’s simple, but it can have a huge impact not only in your professional life, but in your personal life too.


Here is a pic of the outdoor billboard for his latest venture - V Gym. There is one opening in Pitt St in Sydney soon. It sounds like it will be on a planet of its own. You know you have made it when your name is the main part of the ad.