Life in the Fast Lane

In my role as leader of The Academy of Rock and Human Dynamics, I’ve been privileged to meet a wide variety of people that live life without limits. We have limited time on planet Earth and it therefore matters that we live life to the full whatever advantages and / or setbacks pass us by. In this article I explore some of the stories of high performance people I’ve been fortunate enough to meet.

Like a Virgin

Sir Richard Branson is a great example of someone who lives life in the fast lane, recently injuring himself whilst participating in the Virgin Strive Challenge at an advanced age after a life of adventure, entrepreneurship and philanthropy. Richard left school early, having not found academic education stimulating, but was not held back by that although he is an avid reader and lifelong learner. At a personal level, his dyslexia seems not to have acted as a constraint, instead he used it to develop new choices. As a result of the condition, Branson has always needed other people to address specifics on his behalf. This has resulted in him becoming someone who develops deep levels of trust and who is great at delegation. Necessity has literally become the mother of invention for Virgin.
I met Richard Branson when I won a prize for my work in leadership a few years ago. Since that time I have developed the relationship with Virgin, working for them as a writer and an event organiser, organising interviews with high performers such as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist, Meatloaf’s singer, Guns N’ Roses manager, Richard Branson’s right hand man at Virgin Atlantic and the man who engineered Bohemian Rhapsody. Richard also kindly gave me an exclusive interview for my latest book with Bloomsbury “Leading Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise”. This has given me unique opportunities to study the anatomy of people who live life to the full in detail.

In Virgin’s case, it becomes clear that Richard Branson is an introvert, contrary to what most people would think, given the audaciousness of some of his stunts involving balloons, brides and banks. He is also a deep reflector and I believe this gives him a certain grounded-ness and gravitas as a leader. Branson leads Virgin by example and embodies Daniel Pink’s concept from “A Whole New Mind”, that great leaders combine passion, profit and purpose. He is one of the few leaders I know who openly acknowledges that failure is a normal part of business. This is illustrated perfectly in the following examples:

Some of Virgin’s most famous failures include Virgin Cola and Virgin Brides. Virgin Cola launched in 1994. In Branson’s book The Virgin Way he comments that:

“When trying to promote anything in the US one really has to “Go big or go home” – well, we went big! . . . I drove a vintage Sherman tank down Broadway . . . heroically smashing through a giant wall of Coke and Pepsi cans”

On this occasion Richard’s underlying modus operandi of ‘playing David to Goliath’ did not succeed. Coca Cola engaged their massive distribution machine to ensure there was no room on the shelves for Virgin’s product, Coke was discounted massively and Virgin retired injured.  But he learned and quickly moved on, something he learned from his parents.

Dealing with Divas

In the course of my work for Virgin, I was privileged to meet Barry Ainsworth, the man who engineered Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody as well as records for people as diverse as Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, Rush, Deep Purple, Toyah, Yes, Jack Bruce, Hawkwind, Rush and a very long list of music acts.  As such he has been used to dealing with high performance people, some of whom have egos the size of planets.
Contrary to what you might think Barry is a highly ordered, calm and structured individual who provides the perfect counterpoint to the more random, excitable and creative talents he has managed. Working with Freddie Mercury is no mean feat and it becomes clear that his contribution has been about ensuring the band could realise some of their more audacious studio ideas. Barry innovated to help Queen produce the famous multi-track vocals in Bohemian Rhapsody at a time when recording studios were very limited in this respect. He made it possible to mix 24 vocal tracks simultaneously, through automating the movement of the mixing desk – something which had never been done before. Sometimes life in the fast lane required meticulous detail in the back room and Barry provided this stability so that Queen could do their best work.
Life in the Fast Lane When we see people who are high achievers it is often possible to miss some of their underlying talents on a casual examination of their success. Here’s some common qualities that we miss:

  An ability to reflect and learn rapidly, especially in the face of setbacks.

  A systematic approach which saves them time and energy when doing things quickly.

  A huge ability to connect with people at all levels, of different minds and disciplines.

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