In April of 2015, I joined a group of 25 entrepreneurs from Maverick1000 for a week on Necker Island, Richard Branson's legendary private island and an idyllic place to cook up bold ideas while meeting in the same room as leaders like Nelson Mandela once have.
Richard makes himself available to this group for most meals, several strategy sessions and some fun adventures and parties, at least partially because he believes that entrepreneurs -- especially the out-of-the-box maverick types -- can truly change the world.
While I had just a few personal conversations with Richard, I nonetheless soaked up many stories and witnessed him at work and at play. One of my main motives in coming on the trip was to receive a template for enlightened business and life leadership from someone who has forged a wildly unorthodox path to success and global service.
I want to share with you 12 key insights for life and business I got from being in the presence of this truly remarkable man.
- Good leadership is about listening - Richard is like a sponge soaking up information and ideas, always asking penetrating questions long after most people would be bored. He is deeply curious and makes it clear that he feels he can learn from anyone. His staff comments that he's always asking questions so that whatever decision he makes is informed by the maximum amount of information. Richard said that Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter and the majority of the others on the council of Elders he helped create agree with him on this point: The art of good leadership requires excellent listening. Richard even commented that he can spot a good leader by the quality of his or her listening.
There were, of course, many other lessons besides these 12, both from witnessing Richard in action and hearing stories from others who knew him much better.
What I came away with perhaps more than any other single thing was his humanity: his playfulness, his care for others, his generosity, his curious mind, his attitude of service, and his indomitable optimism about what is possible if we put our minds to it.
It offered me a beautiful glimpse into how to change the way business is done and build breakthroughs in industry after industry, all while having a rockin' good time.