Book Review - Business Stripped Bare. Richard Branson

I haven’t read any previous Branson books, or any of the biographies about the man. I have to admit that my view of Sir Richard was that he was a nice guy, who had a lucky break with Tubular Bells, then surrounded himself with very able business people to run his companies, while he had a great time.

Business Stripped Bare gives the lie to all that. Branson does understand his businesses and he has a great gift for explaining his philosophies. Above all, he has a consummate understanding of branding, and it was this section of the book that I enjoyed the most. If you want to learn about branding a business, then buy it for that alone.

But there is much more to the book. It explores some of Virgin’s great successes and failures, it talks about how to get the best out of people and it discusses recent events, like the failed bid to buy Northern Rock in the UK. It also covers extensively Branson’s thoughts on how business should be acting with governments to deal with world wide issues like poverty and global warming.

The book is written in a conversational style – you almost feel you’re having a coffee with the man, and he’s just chatting with you – indeed the audio version is actually narrated by Sir Richard. It’s often humorous and is full of enlightening sound bites that will have you thumbing back through the pages to refresh your memory.

Here’s a link to mail order the book:

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur

That is an affiliate link, if you prefer Amazon not to pay me a commission, just go directly to their site.