“Richard Branson: Five Questions on Business Philosophy - msnbc.com” plus 1 more |
| Richard Branson: Five Questions on Business Philosophy - msnbc.com Posted: 05 Oct 2010 02:48 PM PDT I thought it would be helpful to answer the five questions I am asked most often on my travels. They cover advice, inspiration, motivation and regret. Let me know if you have other questions you are keen to know the answers to. 1. What is the best advice you ever got? Three gems come to mind. First, an enduring one from my mother, Eve, who always taught me never to look back in regret but to move on to the next thing. The amount of time people waste dwelling on failures rather than putting that energy into another project always amazes me. I have had fun running all of the Virgin businesses, so I never see a setback as a bad experience; it is just a learning curve. My mother also told me not to openly criticize other people. If she heard me speaking ill of someone, she would make me stand in front of the mirror for five minutes and stare at myself. Her reasoning? All my critical talk was a poor reflection on my own character. In the 1980s Freddie Laker, the British airline executive, gave me a great piece of advice on setting up my own airline. He told me two key things: "You'll never have the advertising power to outsell British Airways. You are going to have to get out there and use yourself. Make a fool of yourself. Otherwise you won't survive." He also wisely said: "Make sure you appear on the front page and not the back pages." I've followed that advice ever since. I've been very visible and made a fool of myself on more than one occasion. 2. And the worst advice? 3. What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs on how best to start? Above all, remember to have fun with it. That keeps you and your colleagues enthusiastic and motivated. One of my favorite sayings summarizes this perfectly: "The brave may not live forever -- but the cautious do not live at all!" 4. In your career you have had lots of successes, but you have failed in some businesses. What have you learned from those? Though I believe in taking risks, I also firmly believe in "protecting the downside." This means working out in advance all the things that could go wrong and making sure you have all those eventualities covered. We have come close to failure many times. Most entrepreneurs skirt close to it. I nearly failed when Virgin was in its infancy, I nearly failed in the early 1980s, and, of course, I have nearly died more than once trying to achieve world records for boating or ballooning. But through a combination of luck and planning, both Virgin and I are still here. 5. Do you have any regrets? One missed opportunity does rankle still. That was the chance to run the United Kingdom's national lottery. Our proposal was to run a not-for-profit game, with much of the money going to good causes, but we were just beaten by the eventual winner. We have moved on and set up Virgin Unite, our foundation, to act as the catalyst to helping others and galvanizing our companies into action. It has been crucial in helping us establish The Elders and The Carbon War Room, initiatives aimed at solving conflict and helping to combat climate change. And finally, I am often asked: Are you a man of habits? I guess being a serial entrepreneur is a pretty big habit. Copyright © 2010 Entrepreneur.com, Inc. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Why is 49ers' Crabtree starting? - FOXSports.com Posted: 01 Oct 2010 08:04 AM PDT LexisNexis Feed
Updated Oct 1, 2010 11:05 AM ET As backup quarterback David Carr astutely pointed out after the abrupt firing of Jimmy Raye on Monday, an NFL playbook can't be rewritten once the season has started. New offensive coordinator Mike Johnson may be able to install some new plays or edit a few existing ones, but he has to stick with the basic template. Still, the 49ers can make fairly dramatic changes over the next few weeks if they use all of their resources and acknowledge what hasn't worked for them so far. Now that they've dumped their offensive coordinator three games into the season, no player's job should be safe, particularly that of an underperforming second-year receiver who has somehow gained the tenure of a college professor. Michael Crabtree probably shouldn't have been in the starting lineup for the season opener after he missed all of the preseason and much of training camp. But having drafted him 10th overall last year and given him a contract with $17 million guaranteed, the 49ers had invested too much in Crabtree for the coaches to leave him on the bench. He had to prove that he didn't deserve to start. He appears to have accomplished that. Alex Smith has thrown to him 19 times, and he has caught only six passes. Opponents have caught three of the balls intended for Crabtree. Dominique Zeigler, the undrafted receiver who was submerged on the practice squad for most of his first three pro seasons, has caught 5 of 8 passes directed his way. Zeigler can block. He can run an accurate route. He had a great preseason and established a rapport with Smith. All he lacks is Crabtree's perceived potential, and Mike Singletary specifically said last week that he does not want his team to be measured by its potential. If by Sunday, Josh Morgan hasn't recovered from the injury he sustained during the foolish late touchdown drive in Kansas City, Zeigler may get to start alongside Crabtree. But if everyone is healthy, the first-round pick should take a seat. Unlike Raye, Crabtree won't be thoroughly banished. Under Johnson, the team may have the nerve to employ extra wide receivers on more plays, and Crabtree will have a chance to work his way to the top of the depth chart. Right now, though, he and Smith appear completely out of sync. Perhaps that is more the quarterback's fault, or the offensive line's for not providing more time, because Smith frequently gives up on finding an open receiver, checks down and tosses to a running back. Frank Gore leads the team with 22 receptions, seven more than tight end Vernon Davis. But increased playing time for Zeigler, or any other well-schooled wide receiver, might enhance Smith's confidence in throwing deeper along the sidelines and, by extension, open up the middle of the field for Davis. At this point, teams know to stack their safeties over the middle, and Smith seems ready to start checking down during the national anthem. If that change doesn't help, then the case for switching quarterbacks will gain ground. Raye spent a lot of energy teaching Smith the art of avoiding trouble, and he may have overdone it. His offense suggested that he overdid a lot of things, including the use of Gore, whose body may disintegrate by midseason. The near invisibility of Brian Westbrook has been confounding. Only two things can explain his absence from the game plan: excessive comfort with Gore and concerns about Westbrook's concussion history, which prompted the Eagles to let him go after last season. If the latter explains his under-utilization, the 49ers should not have signed him when Glen Coffee left the team. As for the former reason, the 49ers shouldn't be comfortable with anything they've been doing repeatedly in the first three weeks of the season. The patterns that got them to 0-3 have to go. They're about to visit a Falcons team that last year exposed the shortcomings of a 3-1 team at Candlestick. The 49ers looked unprepared for revisions in the Atlanta defense that day, and they took a 45-10 beating. The 49ers may have one advantage this week: Their game films probably don't give away much of the playbook. Under Raye, they went to the same sections over and over again. They turned a big page when they fired him. Now, they have to turn the smaller ones. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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