Richard Branson: Creative thinking, challenging the status quo

Today’s blog is actually a short story about Richard Branson and how he demonstrated creative thinking and was challenging the status quo when his flight at Caribbean was cancelled.

Branson arrived to airport in Puerto Rico. Suddenly, which is not uncommon at Caribbean, his flight to Virgin Islands was cancelled. It was the only flight that day. And no, he did not have his own airline at the time. 😉

What would have been the reaction of most of us? I would bet that most of us would have started blaming the airline for ruining their day and business, as well as demanding the money back, paying for hotel and lots of other “perceived” costs. And of course, being angry to the person at the check in counter, who actually is powerless and has nothing to do with the cancellation.

What did Branson do? He accepted the situation. He accepted the world as it is even though it did not meet his expectations how the world should have been that day. (By the way, most of the time the world is not as we would like it to be.) He walked to the charter counter and made an enquiry about chartering a plane from Puerto Rico to Virgin Islands. Then he went back to the gate carrying a black board with text “Seats available from Puerto Rico to Virgin Islands at $39,-“. In no time he sold enough tickets to cover his costs for the charter plane. He arrived at the Virgin Islands in time and it did not cost him anything at all.

What is the learning here? Could you use this kind of behavior model in your daily (business) life? I bet you could, but only if you were brave enough to take responsibility and think creatively – instead of blaming the circumstances and victimizing yourself.