Why Richard Branson Never Goes Anywhere Without A Notebook
So when he proclaims a technique to be "one of the most powerful tools" he has in his "bag of business tricks," as he does in his new book "The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership," you'd probably expect something esoteric or complicated.
But, in fact, his secret weapon is carrying an old-fashioned notebook with him everywhere he goes.He says in his new book that one of his favorite things to do as chairman of Virgin is to be his own customer and take notes from his own observations and questions. For example, when he took a Virgin America flight out of Las Vegas on a hot day, he made note of how both he and other customers had no desire to use the routine hot towel that an employee presented to him. He read his observations to the proper people and got the hot towels for similar flights changed to cold ones.
The handwritten note habit has come in handy in management, negotiation, and even legal situations - he's submitted his notebooks as evidence in lawsuits. He writes:And he also uses notes for his own amusement. When his daughter Holly was little, he would make note of all the funny things she said, like "Daddy, Daddy, I know what sex is! And you and Mummy have done it twice," he writes.
He says those archived notebooks came in handy on his daughter's wedding day.
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