At 56, the perennial boy wonder, Sir Richard Branson, is pondering age and mortality. He is grappling with how much to give away, and what roles his two children will play in Virgin Group PLC when their irrepressible father is no longer around to jump out of helicopters.
The philanthropic Sir Richard says he does not envisage his offspring, Sam, 21, and Holly, 24, pocketing his entire net worth, estimated by Forbes magazine at $2.8-billion (U.S.), putting him in a tie for the 245th-largest private fortune.
They will not likely take key operational jobs in his eccentric mix of airline, railway, cellphone, space travel and other units, he says.
Yet in an organization where the founder's celebrity is a competitive tool, he is eager for them to play starring parts in perpetuating the Virgin brand.
Sir Richard Branson, shown during Canada's first Virgin Festival on Sept. 10, 2006 in Toronto. (Philip Cheung/Special to the Globe and Mail)
"I have two lovely children but I have never been a great believer in children taking over," he says, while betraying a hope that guitar-playing Sam might some day replace him as chairman -- and the public face of Virgin.
"It definitely helps in this modern day and age to have a personality-led company," he says. "If CNN wants to do an interview, it's good to have somebody people recognize."
Sir Richard's thinking will become more apparent next week, when he makes a speech related to business responsibility, inspired in part by U.S. mega-billionaire Warren Buffett's decision to give away his entire fortune.
He says it is too early for him to decide on the disposition of all his assets. Asked how far he will go in his speech, he teasingly says "Watch this space." The speech will come at former U.S. president Bill Clinton's Global Initiative conference in New York.
"We are making an announcement that has to do with the future direction of the Virgin Group," Sir Richard vowed in an interview during a visit to Toronto.
It is hard to imagine Virgin without its founder, and the lean, golden-tressed Sir Richard appears to be in fine fettle, except for a cough that strains his voice to the point of breaking. Yet his estate planning is more challenging than for most patriarchs, because he has been the stunt-happy personification of Virgin for three decades.
He is a brand-building machine, doing anything he can to buttress the image of the adventure-seeking leader.
As he gets longer in the tooth, Sir Richard appears to be pinning his hopes on Sam, who seems to have the people skills to be the new Virgin king, if he wants the role. "He's a musician and he doesn't have a lot of interest in hard work yet," says Sir Richard, who himself left school at 15.
He says Holly is a diligent worker, who as a medical student shares her father's dreams of building better hospitals in Africa. He hopes she, too, will be active in the business, perhaps in his charitable foundation called Virgin Unite.
But he insists the operational side of Virgin is well looked after. There are 300 Virgin companies, many with chief executive officers who run these units as if they were their own businesses.
On top of the organization chart, seven people in London oversee the entire network. "Although I am the front person for Virgin, the machine works fine without me," he insists.
Here are other Branson thoughts on life and work:
Human resources 101
"The chairman must be willing to get out and party with his people, let his hair down, and be willing to get drunk with his staff," Sir Richard maintains. The chairman should have a notebook in his back pocket, because it is at bars and parties where senior managers get the best feedback. Without written notes, "you aren't going to remember it the next morning.
"And make sure you act on it the next day. The reason people leave companies is they have a great idea and nobody listens. It's not generally a wage thing, it's just frustration and a feeling no one is listening."
Recruiting tips
"The key thing is that [managers] are good with people, and care about people -- and not just the people at the top. They should be good at praising. People who criticize people all the time are completely counterproductive."
Sir Richard is not blown away by MBAs. A lot of his managers never went to university. He is big on promoting from within and having employees learn on the job, which builds morale. "Having left school at 15 myself, it would not look good if we just took on MBAs."
The Branson life
He spends three-quarters of his time travelling away from Britain. Half his time is devoted to charitable work, a lot of it in Africa. With the children grown, he and his wife, Joan, can dally a little longer on their private island in -- right -- the Virgin Islands.
Of the time spent on business, he devotes about a third to new projects, a third to existing operations -- firefighting and keeping things moving -- and a third to making sure people know about Virgin.
Best Canadian brands?
"To be perfectly honest, I don't think I know Canada well enough to comment on that," he admits. But he did have respect for Wardair, the long-defunct discount airline. "It was very sad that it got eaten up, and, I think, destroyed. When it was owner-run, it was excellent."
What drives him
"I love learning, and so I love learning about industries I know little about," Sir Richard says. "I love taking on the big guys and seeing if we can do it better than they have done it before. And I love it when industries change to be more like what we have created."
Corporate responsibility
In his view, a successful entrepreneur is no different than a successful doctor or journalist, except for one big thing: "Enormous wealth comes with it, and therefore extreme responsibility."
Sir Richard, who has spent time with the Buffett family, says he must decide whether his wealth is better used by being given away, or by being retained to create jobs and tackle major world issues.
For example, he has been studying global warming and is now convinced the world faces a catastrophe. "An enormous amount of Virgin's energy will be spent developing alternative [fuels] and trying being a corporate leader. We're building 25 ethanol plants over the next three years."
On being taken seriously
Sir Richard evokes the words of discount airline pioneer Sir Freddie Laker on the creation of Virgin Air 21 years ago: "You don't have the advertising budget to outspend British Airways, United and American, but you do have yourself and you have to use yourself to get the airline noticed."
The result, Sir Richard says, is "I turn up in a pilot's outfit and we get on the front pages of newspapers rather than the back pages." Similarly, "I come to launch a new mobile phone company in Canada, and if they want me to jump off a building, I will jump off a building.
"I think as long as you can make people smile and don't take yourself too seriously on those things, you won't have to worry about it backfiring. There is a serious side to us and a side where I use my Peter Pan self to get Virgin recognized."
North America versus Britain
Many U.S. companies "are far too quick to hire and fire. A lot of American companies seem to be ruled by fear rather than by motivation."
He believes North American companies can also be prisoners of numbers. When Virgin launched its airline, it could have asked consulting firms to prepare elaborate spreadsheets. "But in the end, a lot of it is based on gut feeling."
He says Britain does not have business schools as good as those in the United States, and its managers are not as elaborately packaged. That might be a good thing. "In England, there are almost no famous entrepreneurs who went to university. Almost all left school at age 15 or 16. I would have to say [the British] are more street smart."
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