[cardguy]

I have just finished an excellent book that has just being published.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/05712...25PS29S69H

It is a biography of Richard Branson by Tom Bower. Tom Bower wrote a great biography of Branson - ten years ago. And this book is a follow up which focuses on Branson's business activities over the past decade.

Tom Bower is famous in the UK as being the celebrity biographer who will go after people and expose their hidden secrets. He has probably being sued for libel more than any other writer in the UK.

Anyway - I recommend the book as an interesting look at the disparity between Branson's public image and the truth behind the running of his businesses.

If you don't think you will get round to reading the book - then I recommend the following superb essay/review of the book in 'The London Review of Books'. This magazine does the longest and best book reviews in the world. Reading them always brings to mind new insights which you overlooked when reading the book.

You can check out the review here:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n06/david-runci...e-stuntman

And I particularly want to point out one excerpt from the review. The following passage clarifies the strange genius that Branson brings to his business adventures. It is totally unlike how anybody else in the world runs a business.

The following passage nails the ingenious way that Branson leverages his image and brand into making money.

Quote:

What holds all this scheming and posturing together is the Virgin brand, which is the primary commodity Branson is selling. He works tirelessly to defend the Virgin name while simultaneously hawking it around to anyone who might be interested.

There is something puzzling about this. We have got used to thinking of successful brands as requiring kid-glove protection in case some foolish mistake or momentary indiscretion should tarnish them. Consumer confidence, so the mantra goes, takes a long time to acquire but can be lost in a flash.

Virgin doesn’t work like that. Its name has been attached to so many hare-brained schemes and so often associated with business failures that there hardly seems anything left to protect. Virgin Brides, Virgin Cars, Virgin Cola, Virgin Cosmetics, Virgin Digital Publishing, Virgin Fuels, Virgin Health, Virgin Net, Virgin Nigeria, Virgin Racing, Virgin Wines: you’d be hard-pressed to find many consumers who feel positively about any of these.

Yet still the brand retains its magic. Branson seems to have arrived at a new formula for extracting value from a name. When he is looking for new partners to inject capital into his businesses, whether from government or the private sector, he tells them that his exposure comes from ‘risking the invaluable Virgin name’. They put in their money; he puts in his reputation.

This has proved a surprisingly effective way of raising funds cheaply (Branson is often reluctant to contribute anything to a deal beyond the company name). Bower goes through a litany of business deals gone sour from which Branson emerges intact while his former partners get burned, and occasionally ruined.

It seems that the people with money and power are so insulated from ordinary consumers that they take it on trust that the Virgin name is irresistible. Meanwhile, real consumers get the message that people with money and power are willing to back Branson, so he must have something going for him. A complete charlatan would hardly be trusted with an airline, a train franchise and now even a bank (Branson’s bid for Northern Rock was eventually successful, despite Vince Cable’s efforts to portray him as a man wholly unsuited to looking after other people’s money).

It is, in its way, a brilliant smoke-and-mirrors operation, driven by the undeniable charm of the man himself, along with his occasionally breathtaking shamelessness.

The rich believe he is beloved of the poor; the poor believe he is beloved of the rich. Virgin does nicely out of the confusion that results.

I should add that the book also provides comprehensive coverage of the progress (or the lack of it) in Branson's efforts with 'Virgin Galactic' to set up a private space agency open to the public.

It is already 7 years behind schedule - and any reader of the book will clearly see that Branson has as much chance of getting into space as I have. His 'commercial space programme' is the latest in a series of stunts he has pulled off to try and bring luster to the fading Virgin brand.

Richard Branson is the British Donald Trump. If that...

I admire his chutzpah - but his real genius is in convincing the public that he is a business genius.

[cardguy]

David Runciman was the writer of the above review. I am regularly impressed by the brilliant reviews in the London Review of Books.

Often the reviewers are writers of books themselves. So sometimes I track them down to see if they have written any books I may enjoy.

So - I checked out David Runciman's wikipedia page. And found a reference to an earlier review he did of 'AntiFragility' by Nassim Taleb.

I remember that review when it came out since it was such a well argued and damning review of the new Nassim Taleb book.

According to wikipedia:

Quote:

After a book review in The Guardian of Antifragility by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, that author referred to Runciman as the "second most stupid reviewer" of his works, from more than 1,000 reviewers.

You can check out David Runciman's review for yourself. I think Runciman nails it - a definite case of 'emperor's new clothes' with Taleb.

And I say that as somebody who actually enjoys his books:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/no...leb-review

[trey]

Haters gonna hate. Let me know when Runciman buys an island.

[RawGod]

Re: taleb I don't think runciman nails it. He just sounds like a guardian leftie philosophically opposed to taleb's paleocon tendencies. Same goes for his view of Branson. Sure he's a showman, a Trump, but runciman simply hates maverick capitalism.

[LeBeau]

Yeah Cardguy, that review left a lot to be desired, and this is coming from someone who has been less enthralled by Taleb's recent works.

The reviewer seems to be nitpicking, making false dichotomies and missing the overall themes.

For example his comment on debt levels for countries.

It's not about NEVER taking on debt, it's more of a reaction to managing it and doing your best to keep it low, since unforeseen circumstances could force your hand regardless, and the less debt you have, the more options you have.

Taleb, Rogoff and others focusing on debt to GDP numbers is in contrast to guys like Jeffrey Sachs and Stiglitz who seem to have no problem with numbers running north of 80%, 100%, etc.