- Richard Branson
- Business Stripped Bare
- Business_Stripped_Bare_split_008.html
Acknowledgements
Writing Business
Stripped Bare has been another life lesson for me. I've been able
to remind myself of many of the business escapades that I've been
involved in over the years. I know some of my Virgin colleagues are
decidedly nervous about what I might be saying — and whether I
might go 'off message', as the politicians say — but a real
strength of the Virgin Group is that they are prepared to let me
talk candidly about the business.
Of course, any lapses in memory about
events are purely my own. What do they say at the end of television
true-life dramas – that 'some names and dates have been changed'?
Not really necessary in this case, but my intention is not to
embarrass or disparage anyone.
The Virgin story has been a
phenomenon – building a global business in one lifetime – and it
still has a long way to go. We have packed so much in. Over the
years there have been so many outstanding and committed people
steering our Virgin businesses. I really should thank them all
individually but if I did, this book would be twice the size and
the publishers wouldn't be too happy with me. So I shall save my
thanks for those who have had a direct influence on the business in
recent years.
I'd like to acknowledge the work and
assistance of Stephen Murphy, Virgin's chief executive, who gets
little credit for the magnificent job he does; Gordon McCallum,
Mark Poole, Patrick McCall and Robert Samuelson; Jonathan Peachey
and Frances Farrow in America; Andrew Black in Canada; Brett
Godfrey in Australia; Dave Baxby in Asia-Pacific; and Jean Oelwang
at Virgin Unite, our charitable enterprise. At Virgin Atlantic
Airways, Steve Ridgway has been a great friend and confidant for
many years, while Alex Tai at Virgin Galactic has shared a lot of
adventures with me, and his colleague Stephen Attenborough is
working hard on our exciting new space venture. Thanks to Tony
Collins at Virgin Trains, Jayne-Anne Gadhia at Virgin Money and
Matthew Bucknall at Virgin Active; to our legal team, led by Josh
Bayliss, who have kept us on the straight and narrow path; to our
PR gurus Nick Fox and Jackie McQuillan; to my perfectly formed
personal team of Nicola Duguid and Helen Clarke, based here on
Necker Island; and to Ian Pearson for looking after the Virgin
Archives in Oxfordshire.
I'd like to thank Will Whitehorn, the
president of Virgin Galactic, and a long-term adviser and friend,
for steering this book project. At Virgin Books, now part of Random
House, I'd like to thank Richard Cable, Ed Faulkner and Mary
Instone for their hard work in defining the shape of the book.
Thanks also to my good friends Andy Moore, Andy Swaine, Adrian
Raynard, Holly Peppe and Gregory Roberts for their friendship and
feedback.
I'd like to record my appreciation of
journalist Kenny Kemp, my collaborator and researcher on this text,
who chased me around the world and grabbed time away from my busy
business schedule to help me with my thoughts, and Simon Ings who
helped me to craft those thoughts so well.
And, finally, a wonderful thanks to
my wife, Joan, my children, Holly and Sam, and my dearest mum and
dad for all your love and support.
Richard
Branson
Necker Island, August 2008