Richard Branson Shoots for the Moon

Case Study #1 “Richard Branson Shoots for the Moon”

1) Branson is definitely a Leader…no questions about it! Although he is not your traditional CEO he definitely shows many leadership qualities in his work. What I found so interesting is that he had a form of Dyslexia and did not do well in standardized tests growing up, therefore his teachers didn’t know how smart he really was in school. (At 56 yrs old I was just diagnosed with a processing form of Dyslexia…I always struggled with tests in school…and wondered if it had to do with how smart I was….well I’ve found that it does not. Research has found that many people have Dyslexia, and other learning disabilities, and can still do very well in their careers! This was very comforting to read about and has helped my confidence tremendously.) It was comforting to read about a very successful person having a learning disability and has been very successful in their career.

Some of the qualities Branson has shown is a real knack for uncovering lucrative business ideas and an ability to energize the ambitions of others. He has shown that in every business he has started ! He is a self starter, risk taker, and sees an opportunity and goes for it to see it through. One of his biggest strengths, which makes him an effective leader, is his willingness and trust in his staff to be creative. He also empowers them to want to come up with new ideas and better ways of doing things. He is also very driven by his work but he also relies heavily on the skills of his staff. So many Leaders find it difficult to let their staff take the ‘ball’and run with it. They are afraid that the job will not be done right so they don’t let their staff make the decisions. He lets his staff make the decisions. He also isn’t afraid to try new things… He is a leader because of all his ideas and he is not afraid to try anything! I look forward