Book Review: Screw business as usual by Richard Branson

I picked up Screw Business As Usual when I was in Hong Kong returning to Shanghai late last year and had seen a couple of videos online of Richard promoting the book and thought it would be a good read.

Screw Business As Usual is full of Branson’s anecdotes on how he setup Virgin Unite and The Elders. The book has some interesting stories about how Richard has evolved the culture of his companies using capitalism for good.  Entrepreneurial philanthropy is gaining favor round the world and this book is brings it into the mainstream. Richard’s main idea throughout the book is “Do good – and the rewards will come” (Pg. 50) and he explains this throughout the book be citing examples of Virgin Group using business for good and also how communities can harness their collective energy for good. The other idea that came across in the book that the “….its not just about doing good. It’s about doing better and having fun on the way.” (Pg. 37).

This book is not a how-to book, there are no definitive summaries of what was learnt, so keep your notepad and pen at hand whilst reading the book. I recommend reading Screw Business As Usual if you’ve ever had an idea to create something for good, what Richard highlights is that you need passionate people who wish to change the world, it also shows that the days of NGO/NPO’s of handing out money to fix problems needs to change and soon.