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Richard Branson Photobombs Employee Sleeping On The Job; Gives Advice On Home-Ownership And Risk

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 04:11 PST, Jun 14, 2016

Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin and an icon in the world of business, has proven that despite his reputation for being one of the most powerful businesspeople in the world, he still enjoys having a little fun once in a while.

According to AOL, Richard Branson took a picture with a sleeping employee when he stopped by the office.

While he was visiting an airport in Sydney, Australia, Branson found his employee dozing off. Many other business tycoons at Sir Richard Branson’s level would not have reacted the way he did, and it was a pleasant surprise for the world to see the Virgin owner showing a human side.

Richard Branson spoke about the snoozing employee.

“I popped into the office and the airport to say hello and check in to see what the team are up to. This guy wasn’t up to much at all – I caught him sleeping on the job! To be fair, he was on standby, getting some much-needed rest.”

Now it might be hard to believe that one of the world’s greatest businesspeople let someone sleep on the job, and Branson’s other employees were certainly relieved to see that he wasn’t going to take a hard line on this particular employee.

According to News Australia, Richard Branson considers buying a house to be one of the biggest and best investments a person can make in their lives.

As practical as this advice might be, Richard Branson understands that the decision to purchase a home is a big decision, one that is not entered into lightly.

Even at his Forbes-estimated net worth of $7.7 billion, he still believes that it all starts with building a roof over your head.
Richard Branson spoke on the idea of housing and how important it is as a business and life decision.

“It may be a slightly boring statement to make, but I do think getting on the housing ladder is very important for people. Historically house prices have generally performed relatively well, and even if they’re not performing well you’ve got a roof over your head for your children and your family. Once you’ve got your house, I’m a great believer in people starting businesses. That’s obviously a lot more risky but the upside of starting a business is considerable.”

Taking life advice from a person like Richard Branson is a good idea considering how many of his accomplishments speak for themselves. Branson has started about 300 businesses in the past 50 years, including Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Records, Virgin Money, space tourism venture Virgin Galactic, and his latest business venture: building cruise ships.

According to the same News Australia article, Richard Branson said that he believes that dealing with risk is an essential part of investing and that it’s a good idea to protect yourself from losses that might come your way.

Looking back to the time he launched Virgin Atlantic with a second-hand Boeing 747, Richard Branson explained how he ensured he had a deal whereby he could hand the plane back to Boeing within 12 months if ever things did not go favorably for him.

Richard Branson spoke on the different stages of his life and how risk played a big part at every stage.

“I started when I was 15-16 years old and had nothing to lose. I didn’t have a mortgage. I didn’t have a house. I didn’t have a partner.”

Ultimately, Richard Branson believes that if someone has a good idea that they think could make a difference in other people’s lives, they should “give it a go” — but only after they’ve adequately managed the risk first.

“It obviously gets more difficult when you’ve got a job, when you’ve got a mortgage, a partner, when you’ve got children, to be able to take a risk, so you have to be pretty sure on your idea.”

[Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for AltaMed]

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