Image courtesy of Franmonks

Last week, I had a chance to read the book “Screw it, Let’s do it” which was written by the founder of Virgin Group; Richard Branson and first published in 2006. Branson in his book gives nice messages by telling his moments from his daily and business life. I thought some of the stories were really worth reading. So I wanted to share with you one of his very interesting stories here.

Richard Branson in his book talks about the importance of behaving equal, giving equal chance and being polite as well as showing respect to everyone. Branson admits that he learned all these long before the Virgin Stores existed when he was attending meetings in Japan where serious Japanese businessmen wearing suits were listening to the young Branson wearing a jumper and a pair of jeans and talking about setting up a joint venture music store with them. He tells how these businessmen showed great respect to the young guy, Richard.

One day, Richard Branson was going for another business meeting. He was late and grabbed some papers with him that he needed to work on before the meeting started. He jumped into a taxi. On the way, the cabby got very chatty like many other cabbies and the talk between the two started;

T: ‘Oi, I know you. You are that Dick Branson. You’ve got a record label!’
RB: ‘Yes, that’s right’ said Branson.
T: ‘Well aint it my lucky day. Fancy having Mr. Branson in my cab.’ the cabby said.

In order to work on his papers about the meeting, Richard Branson hoped the cabby soon to shut up but the cabby went on; saying that although he was a cabby by day, he used to be a drummer in a band before. He then asked whether Branson would like to hear his demo tape. Branson’s heart sank.

As a person in the music industry, I have also seen many people who have come to music patrons and made them listen to their voice or demo tapes in the hopes of being discovered and releasing an album. Branson, as the boss of Virgin Records and Virgin Music Stores, who have been in a situation like this for maybe more than a thousand times, was right to be bored by the driver’s behaviour but because he did not want to be rude

RB: ‘That would be lovely’ he said.
T: ‘No, you look tired. Tell you what, my mum lives around the corner. She’d love to meet you. Let’s drop in and have a quick cup of tea.’
RB: ‘No, I’m late-’ Branson started to say.
T: ‘I insist guy, a cup of tea’s what you need.’
RB: ‘Thank you’ said Branson weakly.

And as they reached the house, the driver put on his tape. The words heard over the speakers were; ‘I can feel it coming in the air, tonight…’ The cabby jumped out of the front seat and held the door open for Richard. Yes, the cabby was the English singer and song writer Phil Collins whose albums have sold millions and whose song was used in the background of one of the greatest and most viewed viral videos of all times in Great Britain: Cadbury’s Gorilla Ad. Richard Branson due to his respectful behaviour discovered a great talent who’s now followed and respected by millions of people.

You can watch one of the UK’s best viral video ads - Cadbury’s Gorilla here. You can also watch it on youtube as an alternative.