Richard Branson Quotes

Am I a great manager? Huh. I was blessed to have a front office that found great talent, and then I was smart enough to stay the hell out of their way.

You know how I'm smart? I got people around me who know more than I do.

You run a major risk when you assume that you alone have all the answers: You don't, and that's okay. You don't have to be afraid to admit there are certain things you either don't like to do or aren't any good at. You reach a goal by covering all your bases, and you cover all your bases by hiring good people.

Well, the first quality of being a good leader is you have to be able to follow. See, a good leader can't just be the leader all the time, I have to be able to follow.

I need to build my team around my weaknesses.

Rockets are cool. There's no getting around that.

I was never the smartest guy in the room. From the first person I hired, I was never the smartest guy in the room. And that's a big deal. And if you're going to be a leader - if you're a leader and you're the smartest guy in the world - in the room, you've got real problems.

I always say, as a leader, you've got to know when to get out of the way.

A leader sees greatness in other people. He nor she can be much of a leader if all she sees is herself.

I try to hire people who will challenge and have the humility to be challenged - people who have basically good values.

If you ever find a man who is better than you are - hire him. If necessary, pay him more than you pay yourself.

When I started it [non for profit], I thought, I'm not smart enough to do this. I had no experience in management, no experience in administration, no experience in nonprofit; but then this phrase came into my head: I only have to be smart enough to find people who are smarter than me; I only have to be smart enough to recognize who knows more than me.

General personal principle: You are generally successful to the degree others want you to succeed. So get adopted! And, even more importantly, it's amazing how much you can get done when you let other people take credit for it.

Recognize the skills and traits you don't possess, and hire the people who have them.

I'm much more collaborative than I probably was when I was first starting, much more willing to say, "I don't know the answer to that." I have really talented people and let them do their jobs and not try to control everything as much as I did when I was starting. I was a bit more insecure.

I think that I've learned to relax, and trust in and hire very talented people, and trust in their abilities a little more.

The smartest thing a director can do is surround himself with really good people.

There is no better way to manage than by walking around. Autocracy doesn't work. Talk to people in their offices, find out what's on their minds.

Everybody on my team - I couldn't do their jobs. I could not. I really mean that. So I figured out early on that the way you're successful is you hire really successful people.

I think one of my strengths is that I can always take advice, and I can delegate. I know a lot of people feel the need to do everything themselves, but I am not one of them.

I've just got to let my teammates know in practice, without even telling them, that I don't think I'm ahead of anybody.

What I know about me is that, in order to lead, you also have to know how to follow.

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.

You can't build any kind of organization if you're not going to surround yourself with people who have experience and skill base beyond your own.

I hire people brighter than me and then I get out of their way.