Ethics as Non-Negotiable Survival Floor

“Even with conservative estimates, the criterion is for the IRR to be above 15%. It might sound like I'm seeking a very high return, but IRR is not a multiplier of how many times the investment amount can be recovered. Since returns received during the investment period are also considered in the calculation, shorter-term projects tend to have higher figures.”

“I make the final decision on whether to invest or not from three points that include risk assessment with "expected value" and IRR. Economically, the degree of risk in an investment should correspond to the degree of return, with higher risks bringing higher returns (high risk, high return) and lower risks bringing lower returns (low risk, low return).”

“Chiseled into our heads every year at our management meeting was Murphy’s reminder that we could make honest mistakes, or miss our budgets, but if we put the company, or ourselves, in disrepute, there was no second chance at Capital Cities.”

“Be sure to pick a business you enjoy. Do not go for the biggest buck, but go where you will be happiest, because if you are happy, you are successful And do yourself a favor, get yourself involved in your community. Put something back. When you do well, do some good also. You will feel better about yourself. As my father used to say, do not do anything that would cost you a good night’s sleep! And finally, in your business career, don’t do anything that is ethically questionable. You will lose more than you could ever gain.””

“Having what we like to call ‘serious fun’ is at the core of ‘the Virgin way’ and that’s something for which I will never apologise. Being passionately engaged and enjoying every minute of what you do is an attitudinal thing – a spark – that cannot be mandated, trained, put in a job description or an employee manual. It’s something that’s either in a person’s DNA or not, and as such has to come from within.”

“As you will (I hope) understand, one of the keys to ‘the way’ we do things is nothing more complex than listening – listening intently to everyone who has an opinion to share, not just the self-professed experts. It’s also about learning from each other, from the marketplace and from the mistakes that must be made in order to get anywhere that is original and disruptive. And perhaps most importantly, it’s about having fun with a capital F while we’re doing it.”