Richard Branson

Born on July 18, 1950, in Surrey, England, Richard Branson struggled in school and dropped out at age 16—a decision that ultimately lead to the creation of Virgin Records. His entrepreneurial projects started in the music industry and expanded into other sectors making Branson a billionaire. His Virgin Group holds more than 200 companies, including the recent Virgin Galactic, a space-tourism company. Branson is also known for his adventurous spirit and sporting achievements, including crossing oceans in a hot air balloon.

By 1969, Branson was living in a London commune, surrounded by the British music and drug scene. It was during this time that Branson had the idea to begin a mail-order record company called Virgin to help fund his magazine efforts. The company performed modestly, but made Branson enough that he was able to expand his business venture, adding a record shop in Oxford Street, London. With the success of the record shop, the high school drop-out was able to build a recording studio in 1972 in Oxfordshire, England.

Branson expanded his entrepreneurial efforts yet again, this time to include the travel company the Voyager Group in 1980, the airline Virgin Atlantic in 1984, and a series of Virgin Megastores. But Branson's success was not always predictable. By 1992, Virgin was suddenly struggling to stay financially afloat. The company was sold later that year to THORN EMI for $1 billion. Branson was crushed by the loss, reportedly crying after the contract was signed, but remained determined to stay in the music business. In 1993, he founded the station Virgin Radio, and several years later he started a second record company, V2. Founded in 1996, V2 now includes artists such as Powder Finger and Tom Jones.

Branson's Virgin Group now holds more than 200 companies in more than 30 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Asia, Europe and South Africa. He has expanded his businesses to include a train company, a luxury game preserve, a mobile phone company and a space-tourism company, Virgin Galactic. 

The reason that i choosed Richard Branson as one of the successful entrepreneurs is because A successful leader is nothing without its followers. Being able to create unity in his team has made Branson more successful than ever. He has flown to great heights to create a fun working environment for his employees. He believes that people who work for him should not have the concept of just coming to work for that paycheck; instead, he wants his team to enjoy being a part of the Virgin family. As a team leader, one has to create a harmonious working atmosphere with little conflict or issues amongst its people. The most important part of being a good leader is not only to lead its followers, but to foster a relationship and showing interests in their needs. Richard Branson is a leader that seeks opinions and views from other people that are working around him. His core value is always to listen what other people have to say. He demonstrates this leadership style by carrying a pocket book for times when he hears something interesting from people he interacts with on any level.  However, Branson will still make the final decision and particularly loves to take high risk decisions if he feels it is worthwhile. His democratic leadership style also stretches to a point where he focuses on the importance of being humble and making his employees feel that they are important to the organization. This Virgin founder believes that praise goes further than criticism.

source: http://leadershipunlv.blogspot.com/2013/07/richard-branson.html