Thank You Richard Branson

One of the greatest assignments I had in college was to create a collage of my role models. There was no limit to the number of people I could include. I could be real or fictional people. It made me reflect on who I was, I liked that. I recently had the fortune of giving this assignment some of my colleagues. I pulled out my original collage, but then realized that it had been over 10 years since the original so I updated my collage. Many of my role models remained the same, but I added a few people.

I'd like to talk about one person that I added to my newest version, Richard Branson. For those of you who are not familiar with him, he's the owner of Virgin Group, and he's the only person in history to have built eight-billion dollar companies in eight different markets. While his financial gains are incredibly impressive, it's not the money that stands out.

In his latest book, Business Stripped Bare, Mr. Branson discusses that life is not easy, quite the contrary. He says that, "Make no mistake: being better is hard to do." He insists that the bigger you become the more positive impact you can have. Mr. Branson is also a huge advocate of exercise. It brings energy to our day, "exercise is a bullet worth biting."

As I read his book, I felt like I was talking to a kindred spirit. I have noticed a similarity between his spirit and SSL's. Our attitude towards working out out and towards life are very similar. Our workouts not only challenge your body and mind, but they are invigorating as well. You get out, exactly what you put in. It was refreshing to listen to someone tell you that rewards come with hard work, nothing comes easy, but you feel triumphant at the end of each and every day.