Chris Anderson: Velkommen til TED
Chris Anderson: Welcome to TED.
Richard Branson: Mange tak. Den første TED har været fantastisk.
Richard Branson: Thank you very much. The first TED has been great.
CA: Er du stødt på interessante mennesker?
CA: Have you met anyone interesting?
RB: Det fede ved TED er at alle er interessante. Jeg var meget glad for at se Goldie Hawn, fordi jeg skyldte hende en undskyldning. For et par år siden var hende og jeg ude og spise -- jeg prøvede hendes store vielsesring, og kunne ikke få den af igen. Da jeg kom hjem den aften ville min kone vide hvorfor jeg havde en anden kvindes massive, store vielsesring på fingeren Næste morgen måtte vi hen til juveleren og få den klippet af. Så -- (Latter) -- undskyld til Goldie.
RB: Well, the nice thing about TED is everybody's interesting. I was very glad to see Goldie Hawn, because I had an apology to make to her. I'd had dinner with her about two years ago and I'd -- she had this big wedding ring and I put it on my finger and I couldn't get it off. And I went home to my wife that night and she wanted to know why I had another woman's big, massive, big wedding ring on my finger. And, anyway, the next morning we had to go along to the jeweler and get it cut off. So -- (Laughter) -- so apologies to Goldie.
CA: Den var god. Vi vil præsentere nogle af dine virksomheder. Du har startet et par stykker i din tid. Du ved, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Records -- Det hele startede nok med magasinet Student. Og også alle de andre. Hvordan gør du det?
CA: That's pretty good. So, we're going to put up some slides of some of your companies here. You've started one or two in your time. So, you know, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Records -- I guess it all started with a magazine called Student. And then, yes, all these other ones as well. I mean, how do you do this?
RB: Jeg læste alle disse TED instruktioner: Tal ikke om din egen virksomhed, og lign. og nu spørger du mig. Jeg går ud fra du ikke smider mig af scenen, siden du spørger. (Latter)
RB: I read all these sort of TED instructions: you must not talk about your own business, and this, and now you ask me. So I suppose you're not going to be able to kick me off the stage, since you asked the question. (Laughter)
CA: Det kommer dog an på svaret.
CA: It depends what the answer is though.
RB: Jeg lærte at kan man drive én virksomhed, kan man drive alle. Man finder de rigtige mennesker, inspirerer dem og lokker de bedste til. Og jeg elsker at lære og er utrolig spørgelysten. Jeg elsker at udfordre status quo og prøver at vende tingene på hovedet. Jeg har set på livet som en lang læreprocess. Hvis jeg rejser med fly og finder oplevelsen ubehagelig, som det var for 21 år siden, så tænker jeg, måske kan jeg skabe den type flyselskab jeg gerne vil flyve med. Så jeg købte en brugt 747 fra Boeing og prøvede det af.
RB: No, I mean, I think I learned early on that if you can run one company, you can really run any companies. I mean, companies are all about finding the right people, inspiring those people, you know, drawing out the best in people. And I just love learning and I'm incredibly inquisitive and I love taking on, you know, the status quo and trying to turn it upside down. So I've seen life as one long learning process. And if I see -- you know, if I fly on somebody else's airline and find the experience is not a pleasant one, which it wasn't, 21 years ago, then I'd think, well, you know, maybe I can create the kind of airline that I'd like to fly on. And so, you know, so got one secondhand 747 from Boeing and gave it a go.
CA: Det var bisart, for du foretog dig noget mange mente var skørt. Og på et tidspunkt fældede det næsten hele dit imperium. Jeg talte med en investeringsrådgiverne, da du dybest set solgte Virgin Records og investerede stort i Virgin Atlantic, og efter hans mening byttede du verdens fjerde største pladeselskab med det tyvende største flyselskab og at du var gået fra forstanden. Hvorfor gjorde du det?
CA: Well, that was a bizarre thing, because you made this move that a lot of people advised you was crazy. And in fact, in a way, it almost took down your empire at one point. I had a conversation with one of the investment bankers who, at the time when you basically sold Virgin Records and invested heavily in Virgin Atlantic, and his view was that you were trading, you know, the world's fourth biggest record company for the twenty-fifth biggest airline and that you were out of your mind. Why did you do that?
RB: Der er en meget fin grænse mellem succes og fiasko. Starter man en virksomhed uden finansiel opbakning, ender man sandsynligvis på den forkerte side af grænsen. Vi blev angrebet af British Airways. De ville udmanøvrere vores flyselskab, og startede det der er blevet kendt som den beskidte tricks kampagne. Og jeg blev klar over at hele emperiet ville styrte sammen medmindre jeg spyttede i kassen. Så for at beskytte de ansattes jobs i flyselskabet, og i pladeselskabet, måtte jeg sælge ud af arvesølvet.
RB: Well, I think that there's a very thin dividing line between success and failure. And I think if you start a business without financial backing, you're likely to go the wrong side of that dividing line. We had -- we were being attacked by British Airways. They were trying to put our airline out of business, and they launched what's become known as the dirty tricks campaign. And I realized that the whole empire was likely to come crashing down unless I chipped in a chip. And in order to protect the jobs of the people who worked for the airline, and protect the jobs of the people who worked for the record company, I had to sell the family jewelry to protect the airline.
CA: Efter Napster, ligner du lidt af et geni, faktisk, også på grund af det.
CA: Post-Napster, you're looking like a bit of a genius, actually, for that as well.
RB: Ja, det viste sig at være et rigtigt træk. Det var sørgeligt dengang, men vi kom videre.
RB: Yeah, as it turned out, it proved to be the right move. But, yeah, it was sad at the time, but we moved on.
CA: Du bruger Virgin brandet meget og overfører synergi fra det ene projekt til den næste. Hvad står brandet for, efter din mening?
CA: Now, you use the Virgin brand a lot and it seems like you're getting synergy from one thing to the other. What does the brand stand for in your head?
RB: Det står for kvalitet, dvs hvis nogen møder et Virgin selskab, --
RB: Well, I like to think it stands for quality, that you know, if somebody comes across a Virgin company, they --
CA: Kvalitet, det siger alle jo. Kom nu. Ånd?
CA: They are quality, Richard. Come on now, everyone says quality. Spirit?
RB: Nej, det kommer jeg til. Vi har det sjovt og jeg tror at de ansatte nyder det. Vi rusker op i andre brancher, og gør det anderledes og har ændret brancher som resultat af at Virgin angreb markedet.
RB: No, but I was going to move on this. We have a lot of fun and I think the people who work for it enjoy it. As I say, we go in and shake up other industries, and I think, you know, we do it differently and I think that industries are not quite the same as a result of Virgin attacking the market.
CA: Du har lancheret virksomheder hvor brandet måske ikke var helt rigtigt. Jeg mener, Virgin Brides -- hvad skete der der? (Latter)
CA: I mean, there are a few launches you've done where the brand maybe hasn't worked quite as well. I mean, Virgin Brides -- what happened there? (Laughter)
RB: Vi kunne ikke finde nogen kunder. (Latter) (Bifald)
RB: We couldn't find any customers. (Laughter) (Applause)
CA: Jeg er også nysgerrig efter -- Jeg mener du missede en mulighed med dine kondomer Mates. Kunne Virgin brandet ikke være brugt der også? Er ikke virgin [jomfru] mere, eller noget.
CA: I was actually also curious why -- I think you missed an opportunity with your condoms launch. You called it Mates. I mean, couldn't you have used the Virgin brand for that as well? Ain't virgin no longer, or something.
RB: Igen, det var måske svært. Ofte, når man lancerer et firma og får klager fra kunder, du ved, man kan håndtere dem. Men cirka tre måneder efter lanceringen, fik jeg et brev, en klage, og skrev en lang undskyldning til kvinden. Jeg kunne dog ikke gøre meget. Og ni måneder efter problemet opstod, fik jeg et dejligt brev med et billede af barnet og blev spurgt om jeg ville være gudfader, hvilket jeg blev. Så det endte godt.
RB: Again, we may have had problems finding customers. I mean, we had -- often, when you launch a company and you get customer complaints, you know, you can deal with them. But about three months after the launch of the condom company, I had a letter, a complaint, and I sat down and wrote a long letter back to this lady apologizing profusely. But obviously, there wasn't a lot I could do about it. And then six months later, or nine months after the problem had taken, I got this delightful letter with a picture of the baby asking if I'd be godfather, which I became. So, it all worked out well.
CA: Virkelig? Du skulle have taget billedet med.
CA: Really? You should have brought a picture. That's wonderful.
RB: Det skulle jeg.
RB: I should have.
CA: Men hjælp mig lige med tallene. Hvad er tallene? Hvor stor er koncernen? Hvor meget -- hvor stor er omsætningen?
CA: So, just help us with some of the numbers. I mean, what are the numbers on this? I mean, how big is the group overall? How much -- what's the total revenue?
RB: Den er ca 25 milliarder dollars nu, i alt.
RB: It's about 25 billion dollars now, in total.
CA: Og ansatte?
CA: And how many employees?
RB: Ca 55.000.
RB: About 55,000.
CA: Du er fotograferet en del og har aldrig bekymret dig om værdighed, og sådan. Hvad var det? Var det ægte?
CA: So, you've been photographed in various ways at various times and never worrying about putting your dignity on the line or anything like that. What was that? Was that real?
RB: Ja, vi åbnede en megabutik i Los Angeles, tror jeg. Nej, jeg mener -- CA: Er det dit hår? RB: Nej. CA: Hvad var det?
RB: Yeah. We were launching a megastore in Los Angeles, I think. No, I mean, I think -- CA: But is that your hair? RB: No. CA: What was that one?
RB: Kom forbi til te.
RB: Dropping in for tea.
CA: OK. (Latter)
CA: OK. (Laughter)
RB: Ah, det var sjovt. En vidunderlig bil-båd hvor --
RB: Ah, that was quite fun. That was a wonderful car-boat in which --
CA: Åh, den bil som vi -- faktisk -- det var et TEDster event, tror jeg. Kan vi pause den her, et øjeblik? (Latter)
CA: Oh, that car that we -- actually we -- it was a TEDster event there, I think. Is that -- could you still pause on that one actually, for a minute? (Laughter)
RB: Er det hårdt?
RB: It's a tough job, isn't it?
CA: Jeg mener, det er hårdt arbejde. (Latter) Da jeg først kom til USA, gjorde jeg også dette ved de ansatte og de -- de har andre regler her, det er underligt.
CA: I mean, it is a tough job. (Laughter) When I first came to America, I used to try this with employees as well and they kind of -- they have these different rules over here, it's very strange.
RB: Advokaterne advarer imod det, men --
RB: I know, I have -- the lawyers say you mustn't do things like that, but --
CA: og nu vi er ved det
CA: I mean, speaking of which, tell us about --
RB: "Pammy", du ved -- vi troede fejlagtigt vi kunne gå efter Coca-Cola, og lancerede en flaske der hed "The Pammy" og den var formet lidt som Pamela Anderson. Den blev dog ved med at falde forover, men -- (Latter)
RB: "Pammy" we launched, you know -- mistakenly thought we could take on Coca-Cola, and we launched a cola bottle called "The Pammy" and it was shaped a bit like Pamela Anderson. But the trouble is, it kept on tipping over, but -- (Laughter)
CA: Designet af Philippe Starck måske?
CA: Designed by Philippe Starck perhaps?
RB: Selvfølgelig.
RB: Of course.
CA: Vi viser et par billeder mere. Virgin Brides. Meget fint. Stop der. Dette var -- du fik en pris tror jeg?
CA: So, we'll just run a couple more pictures here. Virgin Brides. Very nice. And, OK, so stop there. This was -- you had some award I think?
RB: Jo, jamen, 25 år tidligere lancerede vi Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen," og jeg havde aldrig forventet at hun 25 år senere ville slå os til ridder. Men hun har nok en kort hukommelse, tror jeg.
RB: Yeah, well, 25 years earlier, we'd launched the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen," and I'd certainly never expected that 25 years later -- that she'd actually knight us. But somehow, she must have had a forgetful memory, I think.
CA: Jamen, Gud bevarede hende og du fik din fortjente pris. Foretrækker du "Sir Richard", eller?
CA: Well, God saved her and you got your just reward. Do you like to be called Sir Richard, or how?
RB: Ingen kalder mig Sir Richard. I USA er der af og til nogen der siger Sir Richard, og det lyder som et Shakespeare stykke. Men ingen andre steder, i hvert fald.
RB: Nobody's ever called me Sir Richard. Occasionally in America, I hear people saying Sir Richard and think there's some Shakespearean play taking place. But nowhere else anyway.
CA: Kan din titel bruges til noget …
CA: OK. So can you use your knighthood for anything or is it just ...
RB: Nej. Jeg tænker hvis det er svært at reservere plads i en restaurant, kan det måske bruges.
RB: No. I suppose if you're having problems getting a booking in a restaurant or something, that might be worth using it.
CA: Det er ikke Richard Branson. Det er Sir Richard Branson.
CA: You know, it's not Richard Branson. It's Sir Richard Branson.
RB: Jeg får sekretæren til at bruge det.
RB: I'll go get the secretary to use it.
CA: Lad os se på rum tingen. Jeg tror vi har et videoklip, og Virgin Galactic i luften. (Video) Det Bert Rutan designede rumskib?
CA: OK. So let's look at the space thing. I think, with us, we've got a video that shows what you're up to, and Virgin Galactic up in the air. (Video) So that's the Bert Rutan designed spaceship?
RB: Ja, den er klar om 12 måneder og derefter omfattende test i 12 måneder. Og 24 måneder fra nu, vil man kunne tage en tur ud i rummet.
RB: Yeah, it'll be ready in -- well, ready in 12 months and then we do 12 months extensive testing. And then 24 months from now, people will be able to take a ride into space.
CA: Dette interiør er designet af Philippe Starcke?
CA: So this interior is Philippe Starcke designed?
RB: Philippe har lavet temmelig meget af det: Logoerne, og han bygger rumstationen i New Mexico. Og dybest set, er det et øje. Rumstationen bliver et gigantisk øje, så når man er i rummet, kan man se dette store øje kigge op på en. Og når man lander, er man tilbage i dette kæmpestore øje. Han er ganske enkelt et geni til design.
RB: Philippe has done the -- yeah, quite a bit of it: the logos and he's building the space station in New Mexico. And basically, he's just taken an eye and the space station will be one giant eye, so when you're in space, you ought to be able to see this massive eye looking up at you. And when you land, you'll be able to go back into this giant eye. But he's an absolute genius when it comes to design.
CA: Men du lod ham ikke designe motoren?
CA: But you didn't have him design the engine?
RB: Philippe er temmelig flakkende, så han bør nok ikke designe motoren, nej.
RB: Philippe is quite erratic, so I think that he wouldn't be the best person to design the engine, no.
CA: Han talte her for to dage siden.
CA: He gave a wonderful talk here two days ago.
RB: Ja? Nej, han er
RB: Yeah? No, he is a --
CA: Nogle mente det var vidunderligt, og andre at det var meget mærkeligt. Jeg synes det var vidunderligt.
CA: Well, some people found it wonderful, some people found it completely bizarre. But, I personally found it wonderful.
RB: Han er utrolig entusiastisk, og det elsker jeg ham for. Men …
RB: He's a wonderful enthusiast, which is why I love him. But ...
CA: Så du har altid haft denne trang til at udforske. Har du nogensinde fortrudt det?
CA: So, now, you've always had this exploration bug in you. Have you ever regretted that?
RB: Ret tit. Jeg mener, med ballon- og bådsport ekspeditionerne... De hentede mig op af havet seks gange med helikopter så -- jeg havde ingen forventning om selv at kunne fortælle om det I disse øjeblikke, undrer man sig over hvad man egentlig laver --
RB: Many times. I mean, I think with the ballooning and boating expeditions we've done in the past. Well, I got pulled out of the sea I think six times by helicopters, so -- and each time, I didn't expect to come home to tell the tale. So in those moments, you certainly wonder what you're doing up there or --
CA: Hvornår var du tættest på, at tænke: det var det, jeg stiller træskoene?
CA: What was the closest you got to -- when did you think, this is it, I might be on my way out?
RB: Jeg tror luftballonerne -- hver eneste tur var vel egentlig ret tæt på Og for det første -- ingen havde krydset Atlanterhavet i en luftballon før, så vi måtte bygge en varmluftballon der kunne flyve i jetstrømmen, og vi var ikke sikre på, om en ballon i jetstrømmen, kunne klare vinde på 320 til 350 km i timen Da vi første gang lettede fra Sugarloaf for at krydse atlanterhavet, og nærmede os jetstrømmen, denne enorme ballon -- toppen af ballonen kom op på 300 km/t, kapslen vi befandt os i var måske på 3 km/t, og så kom der virkelig fart på. Og det var som at holde på tusind heste. Vi krydsede bare fingre, og bad til at ballonen ville holde, det gjorde den heldigvis Men alle de ballonrejser, du ved -- hver gang, gik noget galt, og denne gang hoppede den erfarne ballonfarer ud og efterlod mig, klyngende til livet (Latter)
RB: Well, I think the balloon adventures were -- each one was, each one, actually, I think we came close. And, I mean, first of all we -- nobody had actually crossed the Atlantic in a hot air balloon before, so we had to build a hot air balloon that was capable of flying in the jet stream, and we weren't quite sure, when a balloon actually got into the jet stream, whether it would actually survive the 200, 220 miles an hour winds that you can find up there. And so, just the initial lift off from Sugarloaf to cross the Atlantic, as we were pushing into the jet stream, this enormous balloon -- the top of the balloon ended up going at a couple of hundred miles an hour, the capsule that we were in at the bottom was going at maybe two miles an hour, and it just took off. And it was like holding onto a thousand horses. And we were just crossing every finger, praying that the balloon would hold together, which, fortunately, it did. But the ends of all those balloon trips were, you know -- something seemed to go wrong every time, and on that particular occasion, the more experienced balloonist who was with me jumped, and left me holding on for dear life. (Laughter)
CA: Bad han dig hoppe ud, eller smuttede han bare? …
CA: Did he tell you to jump, or he just said, "I'm out of here!" and ...
RB: Nej, han sagde jeg skulle hoppe, men da hans vægt var væk, skød ballonen op til 3.600 meter og jeg …
RB: No, he told me jump, but once his weight had gone, the balloon just shot up to 12,000 feet and I ...
CA: og du gav inspiration til en Ian McEwan roman.
CA: And you inspired an Ian McEwan novel I think with that.
RB: Ja. Nej, jeg tog min iltmaske på og stod på toppen af ballonen, med min faldskærm og kiggede på de hvirvlende skyer under mig, forsøgte at samle mod til at hoppe ned i Nordsøen, hvilket -- og jeg var meget ensom i det øjeblik. Men vi overlevede det.
RB: Yeah. No, I put on my oxygen mask and stood on top of the balloon, with my parachute, looking at the swirling clouds below, trying to pluck up my courage to jump into the North Sea, which -- and it was a very, very, very lonely few moments. But, anyway, we managed to survive it.
CA: Hoppede du? Eller styrtede den ned?
CA: Did you jump? Or it came down in the end?
RB: Jeg vidste der var brændstof til en halv time mere. og hvis jeg hoppede havde jeg kun minutter at leve i Så jeg klatrede tilbage i kapslen og prøvede desperat at sikre jeg traf den rigtige beslutning. Jeg skrev notater til familien. Og så klatrede jeg op igen, kiggede ned på skyerne en gang mere, kravlede tilbage i kapslen, og tænkte så, at der var en bedre udvej. Jeg havde denne enorme ballon over mig, den største faldskærm. Hvorfor ikke bruge den? Det lykkedes mig at styre den ned gennem skyerne og ca 15 meter over bølgerne, kastede jeg mig ud over siden. Og ballonen ramte havet og skød så 3 km op over mig Men det var en vidunderlig følelse at være i vandet og --
RB: Well, I knew I had about half an hour's fuel left, and I also knew that the chances were that if I jumped, I would only have a couple of minutes of life left. So I climbed back into the capsule and just desperately tried to make sure that I was making the right decision. And wrote some notes to my family. And then climbed back up again, looked down at those clouds again, climbed back into the capsule again. And then finally, just thought, there's a better way. I've got, you know, this enormous balloon above me, it's the biggest parachute ever, why not use it? And so I managed to fly the balloon down through the clouds, and about 50 feet, before I hit the sea, threw myself over. And the balloon hit the sea and went shooting back up to 10,000 feet without me. But it was a wonderful feeling being in that water and --
CA: Hvad skrev du til din familie?
CA: What did you write to your family?
RB: Bare det man ville skrive i sådan en situation: Jeg elsker dig meget højt. Og jeg havde allerede skrevet til dem inden jeg tog på denne tur, som -- i tilfælde af noget ville ske. Heldigvis blev det aldrig afleveret.
RB: Just what you would do in a situation like that: just I love you very much. And I'd already written them a letter before going on this trip, which -- just in case anything had happened. But fortunately, they never had to use it.
CA: Dine virksomheder har fået utrolig PR ud af dine eventyr. Årene -- og indtil jeg holdte op med at læse meningsmålinger, blev du opfattet som den helt store helt i Storbritannien og andre steder. Og kynikere vil måske sige du bare er en smart forretningsmand der gør hvad den type marketing kræver. Hvor stor en del af dette omhandlede PR værdien? RB: PR eksperterne sagde, at som ejer af et flyselskab, er balloner og både det sidste man bør rejse ud i og styrte i havet med (Latter)
CA: Your companies have had incredible PR value out of these heroics. The years -- and until I stopped looking at the polls, you were sort of regarded as this great hero in the U.K. and elsewhere. And cynics might say, you know, this is just a smart business guy doing what it takes to execute his particular style of marketing. How much was the PR value part of this? RB: Well, of course, the PR experts said that as an airline owner, the last thing you should be doing is heading off in balloons and boats, and crashing into the seas. (Laughter)
CA: De har en pointe, Richard.
CA: They have a point, Richard.
RB: Jeg mener at flyselskabet dengang lavede en helsides annonce hvor der stod, Hør nu, Richard, der er bedre måder at krydse Atlanterhavet på. (Latter)
RB: In fact, I think our airline took a full page ad at the time saying, you know, come on, Richard, there are better ways of crossing the Atlantic. (Laughter)
CA: At du gennemførte alt dette må have krævet du var et geni helt fra starten, ikke?
CA: To do all this, you must have been a genius from the get-go, right?
RB: Jeg siger dig ikke imod. (Latter)
RB: Well, I won't contradict that. (Laughter)
CA: OK, jeg er vidst for blid.
CA: OK, this isn't exactly hardball. OK.
Var du ikke forfærdelig i skolen?
Didn't -- weren't you just terrible at school?
RB: Jeg var ordblind og forstod intet Jeg ville helt sikkert have dumpet IQ testene. Bl.a. derfor gik jeg ud af skolen som 15-årig. Hvis noget ikke fanger mig forstår jeg det heller ikke. Og som ordblind kommer man ud i bisarre situationer. For eksempel... Jeg har ledet den største gruppe af private virksomheder i Europa, men kendte ikke forskel på netto og brutto. Bestyrelsesmøderne har været fascinerende. (Latter) Man tænker: Er det godt eller dårligt nyt? De fleste ville sige at det er dårligt nyt.
RB: I was dyslexic. I had no understanding of schoolwork whatsoever. I certainly would have failed IQ tests. And it was one of the reasons I left school when I was 15 years old. And if I -- if I'm not interested in something, I don't grasp it. As somebody who's dyslexic, you also have some quite bizarre situations. I mean, for instance, I've had to -- you know, I've been running the largest group of private companies in Europe, but haven't been able to know the difference between net and gross. And so the board meetings have been fascinating. (Laughter) And so, it's like, good news or bad news? And generally, the people would say, oh, well that's bad news.
CA: Men de 25 milliarder er brutto, ikke? (Latter)
CA: But just to clarify, the 25 billion dollars is gross, right? That's gross? (Laughter)
RB: Jeg håber det er netto, faktisk -- (Latter) Jeg har styr på det.
RB: Well, I hope it's net actually, having -- (Laughter) -- I've got it right.
CA: Nej, stol på mig, det er brutto. (Latter)
CA: No, trust me, it's gross. (Laughter)
RB: Som 50 årig, blev jeg hevet til side: "Hør engang Richard, lad mig illustrere det. Her er et net i havet, og fiskene i nettet er overskuddet som er tilbage når andet er blevet spist." Og endelig forstod jeg det. (Latter) (Bifald)
RB: So, when I turned 50, somebody took me outside the boardroom and said, "Look Richard, here's a -- let me draw on a diagram. Here's a net in the sea, and the fish have been pulled from the sea into this net. And that's the profits you've got left over in this little net, everything else is eaten." And I finally worked it all out. (Laughter) (Applause)
CA: I skolen -- ud over at være, du ved, temmelig dårligt akademisk, var du også kaptajnen på cricket- og fodboldholdene. Du var en naturlig leder, men måske også en smule rebelsk?
CA: But, I mean, at school -- so as well as being, you know, doing pretty miserably academically, but you were also the captain of the cricket and football teams. So you were kind of a -- you were a natural leader, but just a bit of a ... Were you a rebel then, or how would you ...
RB: Jeg var nok lidt af en enspænder, men heldigvis god til sport, så noget kunne jeg da udmærke mig ved, i skolen.
RB: Yeah, I think I was a bit of a maverick and -- but I ... And I was, yeah, I was fortunately good at sport, and so at least I had something to excel at, at school.
CA: Og tidligt i livet, skete der underlige ting jeg mener, historien om din mor der angiveligt efterlod dig på en mark som 4 årig, og bad dig finde hjem selv. Skete dette virkeligt?
CA: And some bizarre things happened just earlier in your life. I mean, there's the story about your mother allegedly dumping you in a field, aged four, and saying "OK, walk home." Did this really happen?
RB: Hun var, du ved, hun mente vi skulle være selvstændige fra en tidlig alder. Så hun gjorde ting man bliver arresteret for i dag. som f.eks. at sætte os af, 8 km før bedstemors hjem så vi selv skulle finde vej. Og sendte os på lange vidunderlige cykelture. Fjernsyn og lign. var forbudt.
RB: She was, you know, she felt that we needed to stand on our own two feet from an early age. So she did things to us, which now she'd be arrested for, such as pushing us out of the car, and telling us to find our own way to Granny's, about five miles before we actually got there. And making us go on wonderful, long bike rides. And we were never allowed to watch television and the like.
CA: Men er der en risiko her? Der er mange velhavende forældre her i lokalet, og vi har alle dette dilemma omkring opdragelse. Tænker du om den nuværende generation at der bliver pylret for meget om dem, og de bliver for priviligerede …
CA: But is there a risk here? I mean, there's a lot of people in the room who are wealthy, and they've got kids, and we've got this dilemma about how you bring them up. Do you look at the current generation of kids coming up and think they're too coddled, they don't know what they've got, we're going to raise a generation of privileged ...
RB: Nej, når man har børn, vil man bare elske, rose og motivere dem. Jeg mener ikke man kan pylre for meget.
RB: No, I think if you're bringing up kids, you just want to smother them with love and praise and enthusiasm. So I don't think you can mollycoddle your kids too much really.
CA: Det er nu gået meget godt for dig, må jeg sige... Din rektor sagde -- eller mente, at du var lidt af et mysterie -- han sagde, du bliver millioner eller kriminel, og jeg er ikke sikker på hvilken af de ting skete først? (Latter)
CA: You didn't turn out too bad, I have to say, I'm ... Your headmaster said to you -- I mean he found you kind of an enigma at your school -- he said, you're either going to be a millionaire or go to prison, and I'm not sure which. Which of those happened first? (Laughter)
RB: De skete begge. Jeg kom vist i fængsel først. Faktisk blev jeg tiltalt på to punkter i Storbritannien. Jeg blev retsforfulgt under 1889 Venereal Diseases Act og 1916 Indecent Advertisements Act. Først for offentligt at nævne ordet kønssygdom -- vi havde et center for unge med problemer. Et af dem var kønssygdomme. Og en gammel lov siger at man ikke må sige eller skrive ordet kønssygdom offentligt. Derfor bankede politiet på døren, og ville arrestere os hvis vi fortsat nævnte ordet kønssygdomme. Vi ændrede det til sociale sygdomme og folk kom med akne og pletter, men ingen kom med KS mere. Vi gik tilbage til KS og blev straks arresteret. Og efterfølgende, "Glem 'Bollocks' , Her er Sex Pistols'," ordet 'bollocks', var for vulgært og vi blev arresteret for at bruge ordet på Sex Pistols' album. John Mortimer, skriptforfatteren, forsvarede os. Han bad mig finde en ekspert indenfor lingvistik som kunne finde et synonym for ordet 'bollocks'. Så jeg ringede til Nottingham University, og talte med professoren i lingvistik. Og han sagde, "Hør engang, 'bollocks' har intet at gøre med nosser. Det er et navn for præster i det 18. århundrede." (Latter) Og han sagde, "Iøvrigt, er jeg selv præst." Jeg spurgte: "Vil du sige det i retten?" Det ville han hjertens gerne. "Skal jeg bære min præstekrave?" Og jeg sagde, "Ja, bestemt. Gerne." (Latter)
RB: Well, I've done both. I think I went to prison first. I was actually prosecuted under two quite ancient acts in the U.K. I was prosecuted under the 1889 Venereal Diseases Act and the 1916 Indecent Advertisements Act. On the first occasion, for mentioning the word venereal disease in public, which -- we had a center where we would help young people who had problems. And one of the problems young people have is venereal disease. And there's an ancient law that says you can't actually mention the word venereal disease or print it in public. So the police knocked on the door, and told us they were going to arrest us if we carried on mentioning the word venereal disease. We changed it to social diseases and people came along with acne and spots, but nobody came with VD any more. So, we put it back to VD and promptly got arrested. And then subsequently, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols," the word bollocks, the police decided was a rude word and so we were arrested for using the word bollocks on the Sex Pistols' album. And John Mortimer, the playwright, defended us. And he asked if I could find a linguistics expert to come up with a different definition of the word bollocks. And so I rang up Nottingham University, and I asked to talk to the professor of linguistics. And he said, "Look, bollocks is not a -- has nothing to do with balls whatsoever. It's actually a nickname given to priests in the eighteenth century." (Laughter) And he went, "Furthermore, I'm a priest myself." And so I said, "Would you mind coming to the court?" And he said he'd be delighted. And I said -- and he said, "Would you like me to wear my dog collar?" And I said, "Yes, definitely. Please." (Laughter)
CA: Fantastisk!
CA: That's great.
RB: Han bevidnede at, vi egentlig skrev "Glem Præsten, Her er Sex Pistols.'" (Latter) Dommeren måtte modvilligt erklære os ikke-skyldig. (Latter)
RB: So our key witness argued that it was actually "Never Mind the Priest, Here's the Sex Pistols." (Laughter) And the judge found us -- reluctantly found us not guilty, so ... (Laughter)
CA: Det er skandaløst! (Bifald) Men seriøst, er der en mørk side? Mange vil sige at man umuligt kan opbygge en så utrolig samling virksomheder uden at have spidse albuer du ved, stikke nogen. Du er blevet kaldt hensynsløs. Der skrevet en ubehagelig biografi om dig. Er der et element af sandhed i det?
CA: That is outrageous. (Applause) So seriously, is there a dark side? A lot of people would say there's no way that someone could put together this incredible collection of businesses without knifing a few people in the back, you know, doing some ugly things. You've been accused of being ruthless. There was a nasty biography written about you by someone. Is any of it true? Is there an element of truth in it?
RB: Jeg tror ikke at stereotypen på en forretningsmand der træder andre over tæerne på vej op, generelt set, fungerer. Behandler man andre ordenligt, kommer de tilbage igen og igen efter mere. Det eneste man har, er sit gode navn og verden er meget lille. Jeg mener at den bedste måde at blive succesrig forretningsleder, er at behandle andre fair og ordenligt, og sådan gør vi i Virgin.
RB: I don't actually think that the stereotype of a businessperson treading all over people to get to the top, generally speaking, works. I think if you treat people well, people will come back and come back for more. And I think all you have in life is your reputation and it's a very small world. And I actually think that the best way of becoming a successful business leader is dealing with people fairly and well, and I like to think that's how we run Virgin.
CA: Og hvad med dem der elsker dig og ser dig bruge -- du involverer dig konstant i nye projekter, og virker nærmest afhængig af at lancere nye tiltag. Du begejstres af en ide og, kapow! Hvordan balancerer du mellem familie og nye projekter?
CA: And what about the people who love you and who see you spending -- you keep getting caught up in these new projects, but it almost feels like you're addicted to launching new stuff. You get excited by an idea and, kapow! I mean, do you think about life balance? How do your family feel about each time you step into something big and new?
RB: Jeg mener det at være far er utrolig vigtigt, så lige fra ungerne var helt små, tog jeg på ferie med dem. Vi havde tre gode måneder på ferie sammen. Vi holder kontakten. Vi er meget heldige, at have en lille ø i Caribien, hvor vi mødes og har venner med og vi kan lege sammen, men jeg får også føling med hvad der sker.
RB: I also believe that being a father's incredibly important, so from the time the kids were very young, you know, when they go on holiday, I go on holiday with them. And so we spend a very good sort of three months away together. Yes, I'll, you know, be in touch. We're very lucky, we have this tiny little island in the Caribbean and we can -- so I can take them there and we can bring friends, and we can play together, but I can also keep in touch with what's going on.
CA: Du er de senere år begyndt at tale om kapitalistisk filantropi. Hvad er det?
CA: You started talking in recent years about this term capitalist philanthropy. What is that?
RB: Kapitalisme har vist sig at fungere. Alternativet, kommunismen, har ikke fungeret. Men problemet med kapitalisme er at kæmpe formuer ender i hænderne på få mennesker, som dermed har et enormt ansvar. Disse heldige individer, må ikke ende med at konkurrere om større og større både og biler, men i stedet investere og skabe nye jobs eller løse problemer rundt om i verden.
RB: Capitalism has been proven to be a system that works. You know, the alternative, communism, has not worked. But the problem with capitalism is extreme wealth ends up in the hands of a few people, and therefore extreme responsibility, I think, goes with that wealth. And I think it's important that the individuals, who are in that fortunate position, do not end up competing for bigger and bigger boats, and bigger and bigger cars, but, you know, use that money to either create new jobs or to tackle issues around the world.
CA: Og hvad optager dig mest - hvad bekymrer dig, hvad vil du bruge dine ressourcer på?
CA: And what are the issues that you worry about most, care most about, want to turn your resources toward?
RB: Jamen, der er meget - global opvarmning er bestemt en massiv trussel mod menneskeheden vi investerer meget tid og energi i, A) at finde alternativt brændstof og, B), vi har indstiftet en pris, en stor pris i tilfælde af vi ikke finder alternativt brændstof, at vi ikke hurtigt mindsker udledningen af CO2, og rammer et kritiske punkt. Vi må motivere folk til at opfinde metoder der kan hive CO2 ud af jordens atmosfære. Tidligere forskede ingen i den retning så vi ville have folk til at -- alle de bedste hjerner i verden, til at overveje det, og også at trække metanen ud af jordens atmosfære. 15.000 mennesker har udfyldt blanketterne og sagt de vil forsøge det. Og vi har kun brug for en, så vi er håbefulde.
RB: Well, there's -- I mean there's a lot of issues. I mean global warming certainly is a massive threat to mankind and we are putting a lot of time and energy into, A, trying to come up with alternative fuels and, B, you know, we just launched this prize, which is really a prize in case we don't get an answer on alternative fuels, in case we don't actually manage to get the carbon emissions cut down quickly, and in case we go through the tipping point. We need to try to encourage people to come up with a way of extracting carbon out of the Earth's atmosphere. And we just -- you know, there weren't really people working on that before, so we wanted people to try to -- all the best brains in the world to start thinking about that, and also to try to extract the methane out of the Earth's atmosphere as well. And actually, we've had about 15,000 people fill in the forms saying they want to give it a go. And so we only need one, so we're hopeful.
CA: Og du arbejder på et par projekter i Afrika?
CA: And you're also working in Africa on a couple of projects?
RB: Ja, vi starter noget der hedder krigsværelset, hvilket måske er det forkerte ord. Måske ændrer vi det - men lige nu er det krigsværelset hvor vi prøver at koordinere indsatsen, på de forskellige sociale problemer i Afrika, og bedste praksis For eksempel, en læge i Afrika har fundet ud af, at giver man antiretroviral medicin i graviditetens 24. uge, spredes HIV ikke fra mor til barn. At udbrede den information til resten af Afrika, er vigtigt.
RB: Yes, I mean, we've got -- we're setting up something called the war room, which is maybe the wrong word. We're trying to -- maybe we'll change it -- but anyway, it's a war room to try to coordinate all the attack that's going on in Africa, all the different social problems in Africa, and try to look at best practices. So, for instance, there's a doctor in Africa that's found that if you give a mother antiretroviral drugs at 24 weeks, when she's pregnant, that the baby will not have HIV when it's born. And so disseminating that information to around the rest of Africa is important.
CA: Krigsværelset, det lyder magtfuldt og dramatisk. Og er der en risiko for at vestens virksomheds-helte bliver så begejstrede - jeg mener, de er vant til at få en ide, og føre den ud i livet og deres mulighed for at gøre en forskel. Er der risiko for at vi i lande som Afrika, mener at vi kan og bør imødegå udfordringer med alle disse milliarder af dollars. Vi blander os måske i komplekse situationer og ender med at kludre i det. Bekymrer det dig?
CA: The war room sounds, it sounds powerful and dramatic. And is there a risk that the kind of the business heroes of the West get so excited about -- I mean, they're used to having an idea, getting stuff done, and they believe profoundly in their ability to make a difference in the world. Is there a risk that we go to places like Africa and say, we've got to fix this problem and we can do it, I've got all these billions of dollars, you know, da, da, da -- here's the big idea. And kind of take a much more complex situation and actually end up making a mess of it. Do you worry about that?
RB: Faktisk, i dette tilfælde samarbejder vi med regeringen. Thabo Mbekis ville helst ikke acceptere at HIV og AIDS er relateret. Det er hans måde, tror jeg at håndtere det. Så i stedet for at kritiserer ham er der en måde at samarbejde med ham og hans regering. Hvis folk vil til Afrika for at hjælpe, er det vigtigt de ikke bare er der et par år og så rejser igen. Indsatsen skal være konsistent. Virksomhedsledere kan bidrage med iværksætter erfaring, og hjælpe regeringer med alternative tilgange F.eks. starter vi klinikker i Afrika hvor vi uddeler gratis antiretroviral medicin, gratis TB behandling og gratis malaria behandling. Men det skal også være selvkørende klinikker, så der skal også investeres i andre aspekter.
RB: Well, first of all, on this particular situation, we're actually -- we're working with the government on it. I mean, Thabo Mbeki's had his problems with accepting HIV and AIDS are related, but this is a way, I think, of him tackling this problem and instead of the world criticizing him, it's a way of working with him, with his government. It's important that if people do go to Africa and do try to help, they don't just go in there and then leave after a few years. It's got to be consistent. But I think business leaders can bring their entrepreneurial know-how and help governments approach things slightly differently. For instance, we're setting up clinics in Africa where we're going to be giving free antiretroviral drugs, free TB treatment and free malaria treatment. But we're also trying to make them self-sustaining clinics, so that people pay for some other aspects.
CA: Kynikere siger om personer som dig eller Bill Gates, at man bare ønsker at tillægge sig det rigtige image, og dumle sin skyldfølelse og ikke er drevet af ægte filantropi. Hvad vil du sige til dem?
CA: I mean a lot of cynics say about someone like yourself, or Bill Gates, or whatever, that this is really being -- it's almost driven by some sort of desire again, you know, for the right image, for guilt avoidance and not like a real philanthropic instinct. What would you say to them?
RB: Alle mennesker handler på baggrund af en række forskellige årsager. På mit dødsleje, vil jeg føle at jeg har gjort en forskel i andre menneskers liv. Og det er måske egoistisk, men det er sådan jeg er opdraget. Hvis jeg har mulighed, for at ændre menneskers liv radikalt i en bedre retning, bør jeg gøre det.
RB: Well, I think that everybody -- people do things for a whole variety of different reasons and I think that, you know, when I'm on me deathbed, I will want to feel that I've made a difference to other people's lives. And that may be a selfish thing to think, but it's the way I've been brought up. I think if I'm in a position to radically change other people's lives for the better, I should do so.
CA: Hvor gammel er du?
CA: How old are you?
RB: Jeg er 56.
RB: I'm 56.
CA: Som jeg forstår psykologen Erik Erikson og jeg er en glad amatør - men i 30-40 års alderen ønsker vi personlig udvikling. I 50-60 års alderen søger vi visdom og et eftermæle. Det virker som om du stadig udvikler dig personligt, og stadig udtænker fantastiske nye planer. Tænker du på dit eftermæle, og hvad det skal være?
CA: I mean, the psychologist Erik Erikson says that -- as I understand him and I'm a total amateur -- but that during 30s, 40s people are driven by this desire to grow and that's where they get their fulfillment. 50s, 60s, the mode of operation shifts more to the quest for wisdom and a search for legacy. I mean, it seems like you're still a little bit in the growth phases, you're still doing these incredible new plans. How much do you think about legacy, and what would you like your legacy to be?
RB: Jeg tænker ikke så meget på mit eftermæle. Min bedstemor blev 101 år, så jeg har forhåbentlig 30-40 år tilbage. Jeg vil bare leve livet fuldt ud. Hvis bare jeg kan gøre en forskel, og det håber jeg, jeg kan. Noget positivt i øjeblikket er f.eks. at vi har Sergey og Larry fra Google, der er gode venner. Og heldigvis er der disse to som oprigtigt bekymrer sig om verden og med den form for rigdom - hvis de ikke bekymrede sig om verden, ville det være foruroligende. De kommer til at gøre en kæmpe forskel. Og det er vigtigt at mennesker i den position gør en forskel.
RB: I don't think I think too much about legacy. I mean, I like to -- you know, my grandmother lived to 101, so hopefully I've got another 30 or 40 years to go. No, I just want to live life to its full. You know, if I can make a difference, I hope to be able to make a difference. And I think one of the positive things at the moment is you've got Sergey and Larry from Google, for instance, who are good friends. And, thank God, you've got two people who genuinely care about the world and with that kind of wealth. If they had that kind of wealth and they didn't care about the world, it would be very worrying. And you know they're going to make a hell of a difference to the world. And I think it's important that people in that kind of position do make a difference.
CA: Da jeg startede vidste jeg intet om at drive forretning og troede at forretningsfolk skulle være hensynsløse og at det var sådan man fik succes. Du inspirerede mig. Jeg tænkte, måske er der andre måder. Jeg takker for den inspiration, og for at komme til TED i dag. Tak. Mange tak. (Bifald)
CA: Well, Richard, when I was starting off in business, I knew nothing about it and I also was sort of -- I thought that business people were supposed to just be ruthless and that that was the only way you could have a chance of succeeding. And you actually did inspire me. I looked at you, I thought, well, he's made it. Maybe there is a different way. So I would like to thank you for that inspiration, and for coming to TED today. Thank you. Thank you so much. (Applause)