In Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a global entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson shares stories from his life an an entrepreneur. He talks about the deals he has done over the years and looks at some of the mistakes he’s made. He uses his experience and the Virgin group as case studies and from that derives what he believes are the key elements of creating a successful business. Each element is then given its own chapter:

• People
• The brand
• Why delivery is vital
• What we learn from our mistakes and setbacks
• Innovation as a driver for business
• The value of entrepreneurship and leadership
• The wider responsibility of business

Business Stripped Bare provides those of us on the outside a further insight into how Virgin operates and why Branson pursues the business ventures that he does. It also provides an insight into who Branson is and what he personally values. The final chapters in particular looks at his views on corporate social responsibility including his new green ventures such as Virgin Fuels and his creation of a group of global elders as known as The Elders (which all sounds rather ‘Lord of the Rings’, but strikes me as a good idea).

One interesting thing that I learned about from the book is how Virgin screen new business ideas and how to put your business idea forward for their consideration and lets face it Branson and Virgin are far better than any Dragon! If you fancy having Virgin invest in your business idea you should visit their ‘Got A Big Idea‘ page.

In most book reviews I try to include a section about the author, explaining who they are and why they’re opinions/advice is worth reading, however that seems rather pointless in this case. After all Richard Branson is pretty much a household name as is his Virgin brand.

It’s a good book which provides some interesting insights into the how and why of Virgin’s history, including the recent attempt to takeover the ailing Northern Rock. However I didn’t enjoy it as much as his earlier Loosing My Virginity or Screw It Let’s Do It.

You can buy it from Amazon UK or Amazon USA.

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