Richard Branson advice
Whether you’re launching a new business or preparing to expand your existing one, laying a solid foundation for the future is critically important – bringing in investors, getting your contracts right, hiring your core team members, choosing the right suppliers.
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So try to ensure your company grows at a comfortable pace and, whenever possible, involve your employees in the company’s evolution. If you are a small-business owner mulling over an expansion, tell all your employees about your plan – include everyone from the truck driver to your senior team – and ask for their input. If you can, it would be best to work out the details of the expansion plan together, taking into account the challenges faced by your employees, and incorporating improvements they would like to make. The ultimate winners will be your customers and the bottom line.
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We see a uniting factor in our dedication to customer service. Instead of becoming a huge, bloated entity locked into a single sector, these tangential forays have kept our company fresh and different – we are always learning new businesses and recruiting smart new people. Each Virgin company is run by its own largely autonomous management team that relies on the same small-business principles we’ve employed since the very beginning.
If someone says, “That’s not the way a big company would do it,” take it as a compliment!
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219938
Richard Branson on Why Biggest Doesn’t Mean Best
