Sir Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, and Michael J. Fox all spoke at the recent SHRM Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas—and each had a few timely hints for HR Managers:
Sir Richard Branson, the British entrepreneur who has started about 300 companies, doesn’t think much of American policies regarding flextime and vacations. He calls the amount of holidays “horrendous.”
Sir Richard, who says his entrepreneurial success has been a “great, fun ride,” made his comments at the SHRM Annual Conference and Exhibition held recently in Las Vegas.
Branson says that in the U.S, companies seem to believe that employees should work for them full-time or not at all. But many employees would love to have a job where they can job share, work part-time, or take 6 months of leave. Employees are too scared to ask, he says.
American vacation policies stink, Branson says. Branson believes that employees need time to see their children, to reenergize.
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With great HR you can build a culture that people want to join, Branson says. He has 300 applicants for each open position at his Virgin companies, because he has created a culture that people want to come and work in.
How do you accomplish that? You get every detail right, he says. Then your staffers are smiling and cheerful and that makes your customers smiling. It’s self-evolving, he says.
Branson often finds the expertise he needs within the company, he says. A former switch board operator and a former cleaning lady now run two of his companies, he says.
Sky’s Not the Limit
Think big, says Branson. With his space company, he immediately registered the name Virgin Galactic Airways. He needed a genius to build a spaceship and he found one in Burt Rutan, winner of the X Prise for space adventure. Branson says it’s 12 months to Spaceship 2.
How can he keep going into new businesses and succeed time after time? You get the right people to run the new company and then don’t second-guess them, he says.
Branson does admit, however, that all his ventures have not been successful. For example, he says, when he started a cola company, the goal was to be the number one cola in the United States. He is the number one cola in Bangladesh, he says, but that’s about all.
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A bad CEO can destroy the spirit of the company incredibly quickly, Branson says. He looks for leaders who know how to praise, inspire, get out and listen, and then act on the feedback they get.
Teambuilders are critical, he says. We have lots of Sandhursts (Britain’s version of West Point) but there’s no one teaching conflict resolution, Branson says.
Every company needs to be a force for good, Branson says. Yes, you have to make money, and yes, you have to please shareholders. But, he says, there are large problems in the world, and you can’t leave the job of solving them to the governments—governments just don’t have the entrepreneurial experience to creatively deal with the problems.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, Arianna Huffington, Michael J. Fox, and an introduction to the wellness guide that’s helping employers get great ROI (and healthier employees) from their programs.
I totally believe what Mr. Branson is saying. You have to believe the people you hire are going to do the very best for you and create value for a company.
The best boss I ever had was one who empowered me and believed I could handle the job well. The worst boss was the one who destroyed empowerment and instilled fear by devaluing experienced employees and focusing on “youthful energies”. While the young are full of energy, the experienced person has knowledge and skills h/she can pass on. However, the so called leader created rifts between the generations and hostile work environments leading to distrust and unfair treatment.