Work Stuff: Irreverence

I may have the occasional whinge about work sometimes, but in reality I have a great job where I get to do a lot of research and writing.

Came across a case study yesterday on Richard Branson and the Virgin Brand. ‘Virgin’ represents ‘irreverence’in the marketplace.

Branson uses his Brand almost as a ‘war-cry’ to enter a market where there is need for a shake-up. This occurs when there are ‘special situations’ such as when industries are in turmoil or otherwise where there are above average industry returns and have companies have become complacent.

By definition ‘irreverence’ is confrontational and offensive.

Consequently, when Virgin goes in there is a level of ‘shock’ and then resistance – before companies start looking inwards and changing the way they see things (attitude) and then finally in the way in which they operate.

Obviously if ‘irreverence’ can work in industry, it can be used to impact attitudes and the way we operate at a personal level when we become complacent in our outlook, entrenched in our beliefs or set in our ways.

After all, industries are made up of people.