I have often encouraged my friends and family to contribute to the Friday message. This week Megan, one of the Friday message team, offers her “Branson” experience. What an amazing person.
Recently Brian and I got to go on a little trip for my company’s annual meeting. Because it was the 20th anniversary it was filled with unique experiences and during what we call general session we had a surprise guest speaker – Sir Richard Branson. It was funny because most of the employees (the average age of our company is about 23) had no idea who he was even though he is pretty recognizable (that hair!). For those of us who did it was quite the experience to listen to him answer questions about his life and work.
I left thinking I’d like to be more like Richard Branson (not just because he’s a billionaire and owns his own private island – which must be nice) but because he is passionate about what he does and he is working hard every day to tackle big issues and, although it sounds cheesy, to make the entire world a better place.
When asked what he is most excited about he showed us a video of Virgin Galactic. He said we are only a handful of months away from making his dream of commercial space flight a reality. For some reason I just can’t get this out of my head- Hank and Margie will both grow up in a world where sending people to space for fun is no big deal. Honestly the vastness of space has seriously freaked me out since I was little so I’m not sure I’ll take advantage – but sounds to me like the opportunities are endless.
His other passion is Virgin Unite – a foundation that aims to unite people and entrepreneurial ideas to create positive change in the world. It’s a different type of foundation in that it is looking to encourage business and market solutions to world problems like global climate change. After hearing about all of the progress they have made we all felt like maybe our lives were a bit misdirected and we should be aspiring to do more. Granted we all didn’t have Nelson Mandela’s ear, the funds or the reach to change things on a global level but if we all do what we can in our own communities and don’t ignore problems because they are hard I think we can make the world a better place – us and Lego Batman. (OK if you don’t have a Batman obsessed three year old you have no idea what I’m talking about but it’s funny.)
My favorite story was about the name Virgin. Apparently he had tried to register the name when he was 14 and the trademark office told him it was not morally acceptable. After a few years and some research he went back with the dictionary explaining that Virgin meant pure and he convinced them to register then name. Apparently we should never underestimate the power of creative thinking.
If you want to make the world a better place,
Take a look at yourself and make a change. Hooo…
Michael JacksonBatman
Enjoy the week end – Mike & Megan