理查德·布兰森——“富贵险中求”

Ｊｏｎａｔｈａｎ　Ｓｔｅｌｌｉｎｇ

There are only a handful of billionaires that are easily nameable by people without resorting to Google or some other fount of information. Try naming just ten of the top 50 richest people in the world and you will find it surprisingly difficult. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are Americans who quickly spring to mind, but Britain also has its own famous billionaire in the form of Richard Branson.

若不借助于谷歌或其他信息渠道,人们能叫得出名字的亿万富翁寥寥无几。你会发现,要说出全世界最富有的50人当中的前10名竟然十分困难。比尔•盖茨和沃伦•巴菲特这两位美国人会马上映入你的脑海,但英国也有其出名的亿万富翁,理查德•布兰森就是其中之一。

Branson like his peers, has that all important ability to see where there is a gap in the market and capitalise on it. Born in 1950, his entrepreneurial spirit was first raised at the tender age of 16, when he founded a magazine called Student. The difficulty in keeping it running helped him to get his first serious taste of business and was no doubt confidence boosting. As a young man with dyslexia and poor academic results, who had recently dropped out of high school, he was not expected to do much with his life. In 1970 he set about proving everyone wrong and started up a mail order business selling records and a short while later opened his first record store on Oxford Street in London, called 'Virgin'. You've probably heard of this brand before, it's hard to miss these days. In classic entrepreneurial style, Branson had seen a gap in the market and followed a simple but effective business model - provide the best service, at the lowest price.

跟其他亿万富翁一样,布兰森有一种很厉害的本事,可以发现市场上哪里有缺口,并从中获利。布兰森出生于1950年,早在16岁那年,他创办了一份名为《学生》的杂志,企业家精神初露端倪。经营杂志的困难使他第一次真正体验到经商的滋味,但他的信心因此倍增。由于患有阅读障碍症,且学习成绩差,他中学都没有读完,别人都认为他这一生都不会有什么成就。1970年,他开始证明他们是错的,他成立了一家唱片邮购公司,稍后在伦敦牛津街开了自己的第一家唱片店,名为“维珍”。你可能已经对这个品牌有所耳闻,想不知道都难。布兰森本着传统企业家的作风,发现了市场上的缺口,奉行着简单而有效的经营模式——以最低的价格提供最好的服务。

From selling records he expanded his operations into actually signing and recording artists. Building a recording studio under his 'Virgin' brand in 1972, his timing was perfect yet again. His first signing, Mike Oldfield, proved to be a huge success, with his album Tubular Bells, staying in the charts for 274 weeks. Later he would sign the Sex Pistols and the Rolling Stones; bands that other labels felt were too hot to touch.

布兰森从卖唱片起家,之后又开始同艺人签约,并录制唱片。1972年,他开办了一家名为“维珍”的录音室,这次他又把握住了时机。他签约的第一位艺人是麦克•欧菲尔德,首张专辑《管钟》在榜停留长达274周之久,取得了巨大成功。之后,他又签下了性枪手乐队和滚石乐队,这些乐队由于太红,其他唱片公司都不敢碰。

Since those early days, he's slowly extended Virgin's reach around the world with his launching of 'Virgin Atlantic', 'Virgin Mobile', 'Virgin Internet', and of course, 'Virgin Radio' whose syndication to countries far and wide, makes it instantly recognisable. His largest new endeavour is, 'Virgin Galactic' - Fancy a trip to Space? Yes, I do mean Outer-Space! At a relatively cheap $200,000 dollars, the first fully commercial enterprise will take space-tourists for a brief few minutes beyond our planet's atmosphere on board Space Ship One.

以上都是他早年的事,之后他逐渐扩张“维珍”的版图,推出了“维珍航空”、“维珍移动”、“维珍网络”,当然,还有“维珍广播”,维珍集团的足迹遍布全世界许多国家和地区,为人们耳熟能详。最近他的最大手笔是“维珍银河公司”——想进行太空旅行吗?没错,我指的是外太空!这是第一个商业性太空旅行计划,游客只需花20万美元,就可以乘坐太空飞机在几分钟之内离开我们星球的大气层。

As the self styled 'Rebel Billionaire', Branson works hard at his public image of being an adventurer; this slightly wild, carefree spirit constantly seeking new goals. To be fair, while this guarantees him huge free publicity, it is not all just image. You don't seek to circumnavigate the world in a high altitude balloon, risking your very life, if you just want publicity. He's had to be saved at least four times by helicopter when his escapades have gone wrong. That's the thing about Branson, he continuously refuses to conform to how most people expect a billionaire business man, running an empire, who is also extremely hands on, should act. Naturally, he surrounds himself with his friends and family, many of whom are his trusted advisors, but it's his refusal to sacrifice his personal enjoyment in life for this work that really stands out. In fact he seems to do the exact opposite of most other workaholics and lets his personal life and desires, dictate what work or business he chooses to embrace. Whatever fascinates him he researches and then jumps straight in, feet first with a huge splash.

布兰森自称为“叛逆的亿万富翁”,他一直努力保持着自己冒险家的形象——有着一颗放荡不羁、无忧无虑的心,不停地寻找新的目标。说句公道话,虽然这给他带去了大量的免费宣传,但这不只是形象问题。如果你仅仅是为了宣传,就不会冒着生命危险,乘坐高空热气球环游世界。由于遇到事故,他曾经至少有四次被直升机救回来。这就是布兰森,坐拥亿万财富、经营着一个商业帝国,但这样的一个实干家总是与别人心目中的此类人物有很大不同。他喜欢跟朋友和家人在一起,许多人还是他信赖的顾问,但他拒绝因为工作而牺牲自己个人的快乐,这也是他与众不同之处。其实,他的做法总是与大多数工作狂不一样,他让自己的人生和渴望决定自己想做什么工作,经营怎样的生意。无论是什么,只要自己感兴趣,他就一头扎进去,加以钻研,但总会取得很大影响。

In business, as well as in his personal life, he loves a challenge. It is when there are only a few big competitors on the field, then he is invariable at his best. He knows that the average corporation's actions are mostly dictated by their drive for profits, especially publicly traded entities and that they all too often cut corners. Branson's companies being mostly private, gives him a huge advantage, as profits are not as important in the short-term. For Branson, money really does seem to be a secondary objective. As long as a company is slightly profitable or simple breaks even, then that's fine as long as it does what he wants it to do. Being the best, not the most profitable is his aim. This is bound to give his investment partners a headache now and again.

无论是在商业上,还是在其个人生活中,他都喜欢挑战。即使一个领域中只有几个大的竞争者,他也一定要做到最好。他知道,公司的行为通常都是以盈利为目的,因此会偷工减料,尤其是上市公司。布兰森的公司大多没有上市,这给了他巨大的优势,因为不上市便意味着短期内是否盈利不太重要。对于布兰森来说,金钱是他的第二目标。只要公司有着薄利,或者勉强收支平衡,但按着他的想法运作就可以。他的目标是做到最好,而不是最能赚钱的。但有时这却令投资伙伴头疼。

Following his desires so absolutely, has meant accepting his share of failures. Virgin Cola was little threat to Coca-Cola and even Virgin Atlantic went to the brink, before becoming the success it is today. Bouncing back from his few miss-steps, appeared almost effortless, due to Virgin's diversification, he has the added safety net of having multiple different revenue streams to draw on.

由于太执拗于自己的想法,他也就得接受一些失败。维珍可乐几乎无法构成对可口可乐的威胁,而且维珍航空也在有今天的成就之前,一度濒临倒闭。他很少失败,而且由于维珍的多样化经营和多渠道的盈利途径,他几乎很轻松地就从失败中走出来。

Not too surprising for a rebel with a dislike of authority, for all his desire to provide a fair service to the consumer and deliver a quality product, he has skirted a little too close to the law on a few occasions. His only conviction to date is for tax evasion in the 70's, when he sold records that were priced for export only, in the domestic market. His parents re-mortgaged their home to cover the resulting costs, allowing him to continue with his 'Virgin' start-up. Probable the best business decision ever made in the Branson family! More recently in 2006 'Virgin Atlantic' was involved in discussions with 'British Airways', to fix prices illegally. Virgin Atlantic tipped off the authorities about this themselves and notoriously escaped with only a warning, whilst BA their biggest competitor was fined 271 million pounds. Such actions only added to his roguish persona, though how much he had to do with the affair is unknowable.

也难怪,由于他叛逆,不喜欢权势,希望为消费者提供满意的服务,生产优质产品,有时便打了法律的擦边球。到目前为止,他只在上世纪70年代因逃税被定罪,当时他在国内销售仅供出口的唱片。他父母将家里的房子作为抵押来偿还罚款,让他继续经营“维珍”。这应该是布兰森一家最明智的商业决定。前不久,在2006年,“维珍航空”同“英国航空公司”进行谈判,违法操纵价格。维珍航空将此事透露给了当局,只受到了警告的处分,而其最大的竞争对手英国航空公司却被罚款2.71亿英镑。虽然没人知道布兰森与此事有多大的联系,但诸如此类的行为使布兰森多了几分痞气。

Branson once said, 'My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them ... from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it.'

布兰森曾经说:“我生活的兴趣源于为自己定下极高且看似无法实现的挑战,然后努力征服它……想活出人生的极致,我必须努力去做。”

When he finally leaves this mortal coil, hopefully far off in the future, no one will ever claim that Sir Richard Branson did not live his life to its fullest.

很久之后,当他离开人世的时候,不会有人说理查德•布兰森爵士没有活出人生的极致。