When was
the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone? It's easy to get stuck in a
routine, especially at work (more so if you've been doing the same job for a
while), and taking on a new challenge is a great way of getting out of that
rut. At Virgin, I use two techniques to free our team from the same old
routine: breaking records and making bets. Takingchances is a great way to test myself and
our group, and also to push boundaries while having fun together.
I have always loved a challenge.
When my family and I went to the British county of Devon on holiday when I was
four or five, my Auntie Joyce bet me 10 shillings that I wouldn't learn to swim
by the time we returned home. And somehow I didn't learn while thrashing about
in the sea.
I was determined to prove her
wrong, so when I spotted a river during the drive home, I asked my dad to stop
the car, then ran out and jumped into the water in my underwear. At first, I
sank and started swallowing water, but I kicked upward and, to my amazement,
soon began to swim downstream. My reward for passing the sink-or-swim test was
a crisp 10-shilling note -- the most money I had ever held in my hands.
That and later challenges taught
me that it is important to try things that might not work, and then improvise
solutions along the way. I've found that attempts to break records can result
in technological leaps forward. For instance, the businessman and adventurer
Steve Fossett flew our Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer nonstop around the globe in
2005, becoming the first person to complete such a flight solo and without
refueling. Our plane was built using carbon fiber, at a time when other plane
manufacturers relied primarily on heavy materials.
Following the GlobalFlyer's
success, Boeing and Airbus both started using carbon fiber in the manufacture
of some aircraft. This technology will make planes lighter and is likely to
dramatically reduce the carbon output of the airline industry in the future. (The
plane is now on display at the United States National Air and Space Museum.
When you need a boost, it can be
a lot of fun to pit yourself against one of your competitors. The most recent
bet I lost was with my friend Tony Fernandes, who now runs AirAsia, but used to
work with us at Virgin. In 2010, we both owned Formula One teams that were
doing badly and decided to perk things up. It was agreed that the owner of the
team that finished lower in the standings would work as a cabin crew member on
the other's airline.
In May I honored the bet on an
AirAsia flight from Australia to Malaysia, putting in a shift wearing the full
stewardess's uniform, which took a few hours of preparation.
Although I've always wanted to
help out on a cabin crew, I've never had a boss, so I didn't enjoy it when Tony
ordered me around. I ''accidentally'' spilled a tray of drinks over him, and
was sacked when we landed. (On the other hand, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a
passenger aboard the flight, described me as “voluptuous,” so I must have
gotten something right.)
Business owners and executives
usually take themselves very seriously, so the story of our wager was widely
circulated in the media. Everyone had a good laugh, and nothing was lost on
either side (except my pride). It was the right approach: The publicity helped
both AirAsia and Virgin to build customer bases in new markets, while the
charity flight on which I served raised more than $300,000 for the Starlight
Children's Foundation, which provides support for sick kids and their families.
One of the great benefits of
taking on challenges in your working life is that you and your team learn to
confront risk together – and also to lose sometimes, because when you make a
good wager, the odds are not going to be in your favor. The calculated risks
you and your team take should be strategic judgments, not just blind gambles:
Protect the downside by figuring out the odds of success, working out what the
worst possible consequences would be, then deciding whether to accept.
You need to hone these skills,
because you and your team are going to face adversity at some point. No matter
what industry you work in, the nature of business is change, and so while you
can prepare for every possibility, some new, unexpected circumstance is likely
to thwart you. The only thing that's meaningful about such setbacks is whether
you bounce back. In 1998, Steve Fossett, Per Lindstrand and I had to abandon
our attempt to fly around the world nonstop in a balloon. Rather than feeling
sorry for ourselves, we at Virgin continued working on some of the problems we
had encountered through our other businesses.
But aside from any business
concerns, one of the main reasons my colleagues and I undertake any adventure
is because it's fun, whether it's a bet that ends with me serving drinks to
passengers in a skirt or whether it's one that leads to the creation of a
company that transforms the space industry. Should you say yes the next time
somebody proposes a challenge? You bet!
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