I think, in part, it’s because he plays a different game than everyone else. He plays a game that he likes – a game that makes sense to him.
Let’s take a look at how Branson races cars.
From the article,
Virgin Racing will operate within a £40m budget – around £100m less than Brawn, who were funded by former owner Honda, spent in their championship-winning season.
Branson is realistic about which end of the grid his Virgin logo is likely to line-up in 2010.
“We’re not expecting the same good fortune,” he said.
“The team is at a major disadvantage as the other teams can spend £400m if they want to but it’s such a waste of money to spend that on two cars.”
There are two games here:
Game 1: Try and win the F1 Championship
Game 2: Try and see exactly how far you can take the money you’re spending.
Game 1 is extremely hard to win and is, for the most part, out of your control. It leads you into ballooning costs for a reward that represents… what value? Some value to be sure, but it’s not worth what you spent to get it. Hmm… sounds like an auction.
Game 2 is a lot easier to win. It’s a lot easier to control. It’s achievable. It’s still challenging; it’s still a game; but because you are choosing the parameters and rules, it’s a game that you get to design so that it’s fun for you. In particular, the main rule is no longer, “You have to win.” The main rule becomes, “You need to maximize your exposure and get the best value for your investment.”
2 Responses to "Branson is a billionaire for a reason"
Yep – come to that, he’s probably as interested in the exposure as anything else.
Probably, but it’s tough to say – there’s a definite playboy appeal to sponsoring a racing team.
Super rich people who made their own wealth tend to be hyper-competitive, which is why the first game is such a trap – they don’t know when to stop. I remember reading a collection of interviews with ‘successful’ people (Time? Newsweek?) that asked them to rate their competitiveness on a scale of 1 to 10.
A great many of them went for clever answers – “eleven”, “about a hundred”.
They compete with money, of course, but once you get enough of that, you have to find other challenges.
The hidden challenge, of course, is to drive the car, and not let it drive you. I think that’s the one that Branson is good at.