Luxury is a personal concept. It can be as simple as having my family and friends around me for dinner at home, or sitting in my hammock overlooking the Caribbean, which is where I am right now.
I don’t like the idea of having a series of houses around the world that lay empty when I’m not there. So what I have done over the years is create some very special homes that we share with other people.
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Obviously the flagship home happens to be where I live most of the time, which is Necker Island, an exquisite little jewel in the British Virgin Islands. Necker Island has 60 staff members but I would hate the extravagance of having that many people looking after just us, so we share them with others too.
Global pursuits
I love Africa so after searching for a Necker Island there, I found the Ulusaba Private Game Reserve, which has the best game viewings in Africa. A few years ago when I was planning a ballooning trip from Morocco, my parents found this lovely kasbah in the Atlas Mountains where we added another spot, Kasbah Tamadot. Because I love skiing we also bought a retreat in Verbier, Switzerland, subsequently named The Lodge. They are beautiful, truly unique homes.
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Bizarrely, I haven’t spent time in South America, but I’m really looking forward to exploring it one day. Other than that I think I have visited everywhere from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
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By GlobalDataThe making of a super brand
I don’t consider myself a one-man brand. I’m extremely lucky to share the Virgin brand with 50,000 employees who have helped shape and make us what we are today.
I hope I’ve always been reasonably open. I was brought up by my parents to be a good listener and not to impose my thoughts on other people too quickly. Hopefully I will continue to become an even better listener as time goes on.
I have been very, very lucky and met some truly inspirational men and woman over the years. The late Freddie Laker was an extremely inspirational figure I met in my early years. I was thinking about setting up my own airline when we first met. He said to me ‘You’ll never have the advertising power to outsell British Airways. You are going to have to get out there and use yourself. Make a fool of yourself. Otherwise you won’t survive.’ Needless to say, I’ve have been following his advice ever since.
I’ve also been fortunate enough to meet Nelson Mandela, Al Gore, Archbishop Tutu and Mary Robinson to name but a few… Men and women with truly good hearts who are not afraid to say what they believe and raise the voices of people across the world who would otherwise go unheard.
Another lesson my mother always taught me was to never look back in regret but to move on to the next thing. The amount of time people waste dwelling on failures rather than putting that energy into another project always amazes me. A setback is never a bad experience, just a learning curve.
My dad also gave me some great advice and led by example. He taught me that anger is a pointless emotion. People make mistakes and get things wrong and they generally know that and punish themselves for it. Why make it worse by getting angry with them.
