The Four Lenses of Innovation: A Power Tool for Creative Thinking

Unlimited potential for growth

How does a London record store transform itself into an international airline, and then into a leading mobile phone company, and then into a pioneer in space tourism? Indeed, how does a single UK firm morph into a global conglomerate with over 400 different companies in a multitude of diverse market sectors, yet retain exactly the same brand image in each and every one of them? How is it possible to build not one but a total of eight billion-dollar companies from the ground up in several different industries and countries? The answer in three words is Sir Richard Branson.

As a business innovator, Branson is clearly extraordinary. Since the 1970s he has flatly contradicted conventional wisdom on the dangers of brand extension by stretching his Virgin brand into a wide and perhaps odd range of business activities—music and retail, several airlines, mobile telephony, trains, vacations, hotels, spas, media, video games, financial services, health care, balloon flights, books, comics, a bridal emporium, music festivals, cars, motorbikes, cinemas, drinks, cosmetics, energy, digital radio, fitness clubs, limousines, broadband Internet services—and even space travel.

What unites this disparate collection of ventures is Branson’s own personal philosophy and Virgin Group’s unique set of brand values. At the very core, it’s all about being the people’s champion—delivering more than competitors while charging customers less, and throwing in some cheeky irreverence ...