When Branson Talks Talent, We Should Stop and Listen

Melbourne, Australia is a long way from where I sit. However, last week technology enabled me and thousands of other card-carrying Branson groupies to get an hour’s worth of the Virgin Chairman’s hard-won wisdom and advice. I accidently came across the invitation to participate in a free, webstreamed event advertised as “Sir Richard Branson: Ten Questions for 2010” presented on www.passtheball.com. This happy accident offered the chance to see and hear him live and also the opportunity to participate by submitting a question that could be selected as one of the ten that a moderator would present to him. Figuring it would be the closest I’d ever get to interacting with a billionaire, how could I resist?

So, I registered and sent my question off into the ether. “At least I can say I tried”, I thought. On the day of the event, I clicked on the WebEx link, eager to hear Sir Richard but certain that he would answer every question but mine (sniff sniff). Then, 48 minutes 27 seconds into the session, I hear, “Sir Richard, Pat B. asks… (What? Who did she say??)…“Millions of dollars and much goodwill are lost because corporations fail to retain their talent. What are Virgin’s best practices for retaining its talent?”

What a brilliant and appropriate question to ask of a leader with over 60,000 people working in the 200+ branded Virgin companies! Whoever sent in that question to you, Sir Richard, should be signed up immediately!

Seriously, Sir Richard rightfully credits his people with being a team of smart, hardworking, committed, creative, and, to his delight, fun-loving people. Based on what I’ve studied about his approach to business and life in general, my guess was that his responses to questions would be based on what he has learned over his 45 year career (he started his first business when he was 15) and that he would send a clear message about how people make the difference in business and how leadership makes the difference in people. Here are some of his points:

• Business leaders must always remember that a company is made up of people,not things. Many know that this is my mantra: “Without the people, it’s an empty building.”

• People leave companies because of frustration with leaders who don’t listen or pay attention to what people are telling them. After multiple tries at getting their leader’s attention, according to Sir Richard, frustrated people say, “Let’s go somewhere else – it isn’t happening for us here.”
Yep, been there - done that.

• Successful companies have leaders who are good listeners and take suggestions seriously and act on them. Sir Richard says he always carries a pad in his back pocket so that when someone presents an idea or a suggestion to him, he can write it down and he follows up with next steps or a clear explanation about why their suggestion may not fit the business needs at that time. Follow up and follow through is key to keeping people engaged. How many of us have sent ideas to the organizational version of the Bermuda Triangle known as the executive floor, never to hear or know what happened to our brainchild?

•Spend more time with people. Sir Richard advocates kicking back and relaxing over a beer after hours with workmates. Earlier in my career, I thought this wasn’t a smart thing to do – after all, I had an image to protect, you know. Now, I think if I had done this more (hanging out, not the drinking!) and really talked with my workmates more, I might have been more in tune with what was really going on in my company and on my own team.

• People take pride in their work, so make sure your people have the tools they need to do a good job. He believes that everyone comes to work at Virgin wanting to do the best job they can. They want to be proud of their decision to join the company. Pride leaves if you know what you need to do but don’t have what you need to produce it like tools and a leader who listens.

• Companies should make every effort to promote from within. He advised leaders to look beyond an employee’s current title and look at their potential. He cited the switchboard operator who, through energy, quick learning, and quality work, was eventually promoted to run the division for which she once answered the phones. Sir Richard believes that people will always rise to the occasion when they are promoted to a level above what they ever expected. They appreciate the faith placed in them and they do their very best to meet expectations placed on them. Of course, if the talent doesn’t exist within, go and find the very best you can afford.

So, that’s what the Bronx girl heard the British billionaire say about how talented people make the difference. When Sir Richard talks talent,he puts all his money (literally) on his people to win.