Business
Draw a Ring Around Yourself
Lesson time 09:42 min
Richard introduces a philosophy for taking care of yourself and the world around you. He explores examples of Virgin Active gyms in South Africa, and how business leaders can step in during the aftermath of the opioid epidemic.
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Topics include: Richard introduces a philosophy for taking care of yourself, and expanding the rings of your life to extend that care to the world around you. He explores examples of Virgin Active gyms in South Africa that uplifted the community, and how business leaders can step in where politicians falter in the aftermath of the opioid epidemic. Understand how any business can be an opportunity to extend a ring around a part of your life, and gain strategies for how to assess existing businesses for whether they’re serving your community
Teaches Disruptive Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneur Richard Branson teaches you how to turn your wildest dreams into successful businesses—and have fun doing it.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] - I have a philosophy, which goes as follows. And that is that you should-- ideally, everybody should draw a ring around themselves. And you've got to make sure that you, as a human being inside that ring, have got a well-balanced life, that you're fit, that you're healthy, you know, that you party occasionally, that you get that balance right. And once you feel secure that you've got yourself in order, you can then increase the size of the ring around your family, your friends, your neighbors. And then you can increase it around your community and try to help your community. So here, in the BVI, our rings overlap with our neighbors' rings. And so we collectively-- you know, if there's a hurricane, we'll all pile in to try to make sure that the community is OK. If the school's needing rebuilt, we'll pile in to help. If we have guests coming to Necker, we'll give them suggestions as to where they may be able to help. And if you're lucky enough, you can, one day, if things go really well for you, put it around your country. And then if things go really, really well for you, you can put a circle around the world and try to deal with global issues. [MUSIC PLAYING] - Basically, we'd like to welcome you, Mr. Richard. And it's a great honor to have you here. Everyone is here. We're so proud and happy that you're here to support us. And it's a very good great moment for us. - Companies, just like individuals, should draw rings around themselves, as well. I think it was the common idea that businesses should be run for the shareholders, and people running big businesses, small businesses should be just doing it for the shareholders. I think that's changing. There are more and more and more business leaders and entrepreneurs that are realizing that they are citizens of the world. They've got children. They've got grandchildren. And they should use the power that goes with having a successful company to better the world. So every single Virgin company puts a ring around itself. So Virgin Active in South Africa has put a ring around its clubs. The Virgin Active team set up a health club in Soweto with hairdressers and car mechanics and boxing rings and all sorts of great things that were appropriate for Soweto. And it became incredibly popular and really welcomed by the local community. In South Africa, game reserve Ulusaba has put a ring around itself. So they have built clinics, and many people were dying from HIV and AIDS. They made sure that they didn't die by getting anti-retroviral drugs, making sure that malaria tablets are there, making sure that schools are built. And I think wherever-- if every company in the world could just-- and actually every person in the world could just draw a ring around themselves and try to tackle-- maybe your immediate family, just trying to look after the grandmother a bit more and so on. But if companies could do it, as well, then rings w...
About the Instructor
Sometimes, making it big is all about following the fun. Ask Richard Branson. The founder of the Virgin Group built a business empire by solving the problems that fascinated him, disrupting every industry he touched, and pursuing dreams that seemed impossible. The adventure took him from humble beginnings to the stars. Learn how you, too, can find ideas so good they’re scary, lean into your fear, and achieve liftoff.
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Richard Branson
Entrepreneur Richard Branson teaches you how to turn your wildest dreams into successful businesses—and have fun doing it.
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