Leadership Style Report: Richard Branson's Virgin Company Case Study

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of Richard Branson's leadership style, using the Virgin Company as a compelling case study. The report meticulously examines how Branson's leadership qualities, including democratic, participatory, and transformational approaches, contributed to the company's remarkable growth from a single startup to a vast conglomerate of 400 businesses. The analysis explores the successes and failures of the Virgin Group, highlighting key decisions and their outcomes, such as the setbacks with Virgin Cola and Virgin Records, as well as the strategies Branson employed to overcome challenges and foster innovation. The study also connects Branson's leadership style to relevant leadership theories, such as the path-goal theory, providing a deeper understanding of his approach. The report emphasizes the significance of strong leader-member relations, employee empowerment, and adaptability in driving organizational success, ultimately illustrating how Branson's leadership has shaped the Virgin Company's trajectory.

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Leadership Style
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February 20, 2022

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Summary
This paper examines the virgin company's case study. The major example is how the
firm grew from a single startup to 400. The company journey demonstrated how Richard
Branson's leadership style helped the firm succeed in the case scenario. A leader's leadership
style refers to the characteristics he or she displays when leading, inspiring, directing, and
managing groups of people in a certain manner. According to Forbes magazine, Sir Richard
Branson is the sixth richest person in the United Kingdom. He has a net worth of $4.6 billion
and owns or manages 400 Virgin-branded businesses. In the case scenario, the failure of Virgin
Cola and the eventual loss of the virgin record are examined. However, Richard Branson's
leadership style is a mix of democratic, participatory, and transformative leadership approaches.
Richard Branson's approach to leadership is reflected in leadership strategies such as democratic
engagement, participatory change, and transformational transformation. The development of
strong leader-member ties is an important part of Richard Branson's democratic leadership style.
He treats all of his employees the same way, and he encourages them to voice their concerns
and criticisms of his management style. Richard Brandson can maintain a continuous process of
development in his leadership style if he takes this approach. He's also recognized for his
captivating leadership style, which has helped him achieve his goal of being a self-made
millionaire.
Introduction
If a company wants to reach its aim of improved performance and productivity, it needs
strong leadership. As a result, strong leadership is rightly viewed as a vital aspect of all
businesses' success. There are several leadership styles, and their efficacy is dependent on the
specific corporate environment as well as the individual leader's characteristics and principles

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(Bartlett & Goshal, 2000). Richard Branson, the CEO of the Virgin Group, is one example of a
successful leader. He has established a reputation as a successful entrepreneur who has launched
several lucrative business groupings. The purpose of this study is to examine Branson's
leadership styles. In particular, the paper will look at his dominating leadership approaches and
how they may aid in the Virgin companies.
Leadership Style and Theory Discussion
Case Study
Sir Richard Branson is the United Kingdom's sixth richest citizen. He is worth $4.6
billion and owns 400 businesses under the Virgin brand. In this case study, we see how Branson
grew from a single firm to almost 400 other businesses (Seedhouse, 2014). By starting a mail-
order record firm with Nik Powell, Branson and his magazine endeavors could be funded. Both
entrepreneurs chose the moniker "Virgin Records" for their new firm because they saw
themselves as "virgins" in the music industry. From a small London commune, Virgin Group
has grown into a multi-billion dollar company (Dua, 2021). This allowed Branson to create his
studio towards the end of the 1970s based on the success of Virgin Records. Virgin Records has
evolved into Virgin Music. This, however, was only the beginning. As of 1984, he added the
Voyager Group travel agency to his roster of businesses. Virgin Atlantic Airlines and a chain of
Virgin Megastores were launched in 1984 by the company's founder (Grant, 2005). Within a
decade, Virgin was battling to maintain its financial viability. So the firm was struggling to stay
afloat. Branson added two travel firms under his name to stay in the entrepreneur game (Dua,
2021). Branson struggled to sell Virgin Records.
During establishing Virgin Group Ltd., he has faced several obstacles. The losses did not
deter Branson from continuing to put in further effort in building his enterprise. Branson has

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made several poor business decisions, such as ignoring top management advice when selling the
Virgin MegaStore retail chain, which resulted in the company losing a significant amount of
money, and finally attempting to compete with Coca-Cola with Virgin Cola, which resulted in
the company losing a significant amount of money. With just 0.5 percent of the US market,
Virgin Cola is the most popular failure (Mouncey, 2005). Despite the setbacks that Branson has
experienced, Virgin is presently a massive corporation on the international stage, according to
Forbes. These meetings instill the desire to not waste time and energy on the setbacks, but rather
to apply that time and energy to another goal. His loss hurt him mentally. But he never let
negativity rule his life. In the same year, he founded Virgin Radio. At every turn, Richard
Branson has been setting new goals for himself, pushing the boundaries, and motivating others
to do the same (Bower, 2014). This section focuses on Richard's leadership style, which helped
him achieve the 400-company mark after losses which we explained in the case study.
Leadership Theory & Critical Analysis
Leader Discission
His errors with Virgin Cola have taught him that he needs to delegate authority to a team
of experts and let them run the firm as they see appropriate; this means allowing them to fail
from time to time (Grant, 2005). Richard Branson's risk-taking adventures have made him a
legend in the business world. Not unexpectedly, he always advised people to take chances and
not to be afraid of doing them. Fear of failure is already a hindrance to your progress if you let it
get in the way. As a result of Virgin's loss, Richard Branson decided to launch a new firm,
Virgin Atlantic, which allowed Virgin to re-enter the 400-company journey once more
(Dickinson, 2009).

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Action and Outcome
This section covers the different actions which Branson take when he starts a new
company and also highlight the different leadership style of Richard which help him to take
action. While Branson does not fit neatly into any one genre, his style does exhibit traits of the
following:
 Transformational leadership
 Leadership with a vision
 Leadership as a servant
 Leadership that is "laissez-faire"
Richard Branson is a democratic leader who advocates for the rights of all people. He
said in an interview with Dan Schawbel that he was a rule breaker since he had never been
taught any rules (Weinzimmer & McConoughey, 2012). For the organization, he never imposed
any hard obligations on them. As a leader’s first action, he takes that he encouraged his
employees to think imaginatively about a wide range of business difficulties, which they
dutifully accomplished. In his businesses, people work in small groups to achieve specific goals,
which is achieved using a flat organizational structure. Virgin has no set processes and allows
each employee to participate in business decision-making. This decision outcome is that
employees again start the struggle to start a new company after cola loss.
Technology advancement is another action Branson is frequently on the ground,
assisting his staff' with technology advancements and ideas (Bel, 2010). His leadership style
helps him to manage the technological advancements in the company. He decided to train his
employees with the training programs and with that he started to hire new employees which
have technological-based skills. with his training and hiring of technical skill company based
employees is also impressive. To grow his business, the entrepreneur was always on the hunt

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for fresh chances to build a new company, adopt new technology, and educate and expand his
crew. A combination of cutting-edge technology and highly experienced employees allows
Richard Branson to increase the efficiency of his company operations while simultaneously
contributing to the organization's long-term viability (Bel, 2010). The flexibility of his
company's corporate culture facilitates his team's capacity to establish official and informal ties
with others. To increase overall company productivity, this strategy aims to create a calm and
productive work environment in which new ideas may be incorporated and applied successfully.
There's no denying it: Richard Branson is a wonderful force for change in the world. He expects
himself and his organization to operate with the highest level of honesty possible
Branson allows his employees to take on challenges. He trusts his employees to take on
challenging tasks without supervision, which they do (Wilson, 2004). And he believes in
rewarding his workers for outstanding outcomes and transactional leadership qualities.
Additionally, Mr. Branson feels that teamwork is essential for long-term success in addition to
being a people person. In his opinion, people are more likely to perform better in the future if
they receive positive reinforcement, recognition, and awards (Schwartz & Gimbel, 2000).
Because of his democratic leadership style, Richard Branson is often regarded as one of the
world's most successful businesspeople this style he also applies after cola loss. He achieved
considerable success in the new company after cola loss as a result of his approach. A
democratic leadership style, according to Nagendra and Farooqui (2016), is defined by a
decentralized decision-making process that involves all members of the organization. Another
action is the management of new company progress after cola loss. When it comes to Branson's
management style, a similar vein runs through it, in which he actively involves his staff in all
corporate choices and enables them to participate as active participants in the decision-making

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process. When it comes to the work they do, Virgin encourages their employees to come up
with innovative solutions and put them into effect. Not to mention his belief in the self-
employed nature of every Virgin employee (Grant, 2005). He encourages his subordinates to
share their expertise and ideas with the rest of the team to avoid just following orders from
higher-ups. Laissez-faire leadership refers to the practice of allowing people to work and solve
problems on their own, with little or no direction from executives. Employees benefit from this
leadership style because they feel more secure and motivated. There are no clear protocols in
place for certain activities at Virgin, which is notable as Richard Branson believes that the
productivity of an individual cannot be judged when they are functioning in a specific way.
When there is a low power distance in an organization, employees are more likely to
communicate their expertise about how they would like their work to be done better, according
to a study by Hofstede (Eringa et al., 2015). The outcome is that Branson pushes his staff to
apply their creative thinking to do their jobs more quickly and effectively.
The next thing which we see is what went well and what could be improved. When he
launched the new company after cola’s loss he applies different actions by using his leadership
style and he achieved a lot (Grant, 2005). The first thing which he achieved is that again Virgin
company group start to progress with profit and cover the losses of cola loss. He also shows his
democratic, participative, and transformational leadership styles which are used to achieved
coordinate the efforts of all employees toward the attainment of established target goals and
objectives targeted at accomplishing the organization's long-term goals (Peterson, 1997). The
employees again take great pleasure in their job and relish the prospect of presenting new and
difficult ideas. His goal as a leader is for his employees to share their experience is also
achieved, therefore he encourages them to be the best versions of themselves.

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Link with leadership Theories
According to the path-goal leadership theory, a good leader lays out a clear path for
followers to follow to attain both task-related and personal objectives. It also depicts how the
organization is affected by the motivation, performance, and satisfaction of leaders
(Chowdhury, 2014). Richard Branson displays many leadership behaviors, according to Path-
Goal theory. First and foremost, he exemplifies a collaborative leadership style. It was
discovered that there is a good association between participatory leadership and job
performance after looking into it (Newman et al., 2016). If we link Richard Branson’s
leadership style with this theory it is fond of emphasizing that he never learned the rules of
operating a successful business from anybody or anything. Given his circumstances, it's hardly
surprising that he never developed a strong sense of self-confidence or leadership. Both his
personality and mistakes have been found to statistically affect his decision-making and
decision-making style. He's always willing to take a chance and try if anything will work out.
Richard Branson is a charismatic leader who inspires participation. He believes that a leader
cannot be successful unless he or she has competent followers under his or her command.
Consequently, he picks his staff with care and communicates with them frequently to
incorporate changes and new ideas. Mr. Branson believes in the potential of delegating
responsibility. The capacity to identify the most qualified candidate for the position and to
provide that candidate with the resources and support necessary to perform well and accomplish
particular goals is crucial to the success of any organization (De Vries, 1998). Allowing people
to make their judgments, he says, would enable them to perform better and be held fully
accountable for their actions. Richard Branson is a visionary leader who is committed to
transforming the way the world works. In total, he has launched approximately 400 Virgin

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firms. In part, this has been made possible by his company's ongoing evolution to meet
changing customer wants and expectations (Rauf, 2014).
Following are some of the traits that distinguish Richard Branson's leadership style:
Providing people with the motivation they need to continue forward. The encouragement that
motivates managers and staff to strive for greater heights in their careers. Learning occurs as a
result of taking action and making mistakes (Adair, 2007). The act of communicating with team
members to obtain insight and exchange ideas Executive and management autonomy refers to
the ability to pursue their interests without being subjected to undue supervision. Life and work
may be more enjoyable when there is a sense of balance. Unlike most people, Richard Branson
does not believe in devoting his time to pointless activities. He thinks that every day should be
filled with happiness. This point of view influences his leadership style, causing him to be an
open-minded, sociable person who is prepared to take chances. Richard Branson is a laissez-
faire leader when it comes to leadership because he believes that people should be allowed to
make mistakes and learn from them (Bruijl, 2018). Despite all the time and effort, he puts into a
project, he wants his colleagues to put in the same effort he does. Despite his willingness to
impart information, he recognizes that people learn best via hands-on experience. Richard
Branson enjoys assisting those in his immediate vicinity, but he is not a servant leader. Instead,
he establishes partnerships with those who can assist him in achieving his objectives. Richard
Branson is a visionary leader who inspires others. Branson does not possess all of the necessary
abilities to bring his plans to fruition. Consider the fact that he does not have experience in the
field of engineering to manufacture airplanes. He does, however, have a charismatic personality
that gets other people excited about his ideas (Bruijl, 2018). The flexibility of Branson makes

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him a difficult candidate for the visionary leader role in certain respects. While he is more
tolerant of setbacks than other visionary leaders, he has high expectations of himself and others.
"Being loyal to yourself, your ideas, and focusing on the basics is what business is to
me. It's not about dressing in suits or appeasing investors," says the author. According to his
leadership theory, when individuals try new things, they will fail spectacularly. He reframes
failures as learning opportunities that may be used to improve the overall performance of
people, teams, and organizations, according to his viewpoint.
Conclusion & Recommendation
Richard Branson's leadership style exhibited opposing traits. After the virgin cola
setback, leaders like Richard Branson exhibited democratic conduct, leading to tremendous
success. His capacity to maintain a large staff under challenging working conditions is
impressive. As a consequence, the leader decides how they want to be recalled. The research
indicates that more must be done to foster global humanitarian leadership.
That existing accountability mechanisms and compliance procedures might limit healthy
risk-taking and leadership should be assessed and modified accordingly. We also recommend
copying successful organizations' risk-taking cultures. An example of collective leadership and
the role of the individual leader in building a team environment that supports leadership and
initiative. The research recommends promoting operational leadership within the sector. More
study is needed on collaborative leadership. Incorporate past colleagues, team members, and
line managers into the recruiting process. Leadership training should be part of a senior worker's
career advancement, not an extra. Training, mentoring, and coaching leaders. Improving self-
awareness requires reflection. Extreme leadership strengths can turn into flaws, therefore
leaders must be careful. Leaders must constantly examine, learn, and improve.

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