Life at 30,000 feet | Richard Branson

Translator: David J. Kreps Finnemann Reviewer: Jette Derriche

Chris Anderson: Welcome to TED.

Chris Anderson: Velkommen til TED

Richard Branson: Thank you very much. The first TED has been great.

Richard Branson: Mange tak. Den første TED har været fantastisk.

CA: Have you met anyone interesting?

CA: Er du stødt på interessante mennesker?

RB: Well, the nice thing about TED is everybody's interesting.

RB: Det fede ved TED er at alle er interessante.

I was very glad to see Goldie Hawn,

Jeg var meget glad for at se Goldie Hawn,

because I had an apology to make to her.

fordi jeg skyldte hende en undskyldning.

I'd had dinner with her about two years ago and I'd --

For et par år siden var hende og jeg ude og spise --

she had this big wedding ring and I put it on my finger and I couldn't get it off.

jeg prøvede hendes store vielsesring, og kunne ikke få den af igen.

And I went home to my wife that night

Da jeg kom hjem den aften ville min kone vide

and she wanted to know why I had another woman's big,

hvorfor jeg havde en anden kvindes

massive, big wedding ring on my finger.

massive, store vielsesring på fingeren

And, anyway, the next morning we had to go along to the jeweler

Næste morgen måtte vi hen til juveleren

and get it cut off.

og få den klippet af.

So -- (Laughter) --

Så -- (Latter) --

so apologies to Goldie.

undskyld til Goldie.

CA: That's pretty good.

CA: Den var god.

So, we're going to put up some slides

Vi vil præsentere

of some of your companies here.

nogle af dine virksomheder.

You've started one or two in your time.

Du har startet et par stykker i din tid.

So, you know, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Records --

Du ved, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Records --

I guess it all started with a magazine called Student.

Det hele startede nok med magasinet Student.

And then, yes, all these other ones as well. I mean, how do you do this?

Og også alle de andre. Hvordan gør du det?

RB: I read all these sort of TED instructions:

RB: Jeg læste alle disse TED instruktioner:

you must not talk about your own business, and this,

Tal ikke om din egen virksomhed, og lign.

and now you ask me.

og nu spørger du mig.

So I suppose you're not going to be able to kick me off the stage,

Jeg går ud fra du ikke smider mig af scenen,

since you asked the question.

siden du spørger.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

CA: It depends what the answer is though.

CA: Det kommer dog an på svaret.

RB: No, I mean, I think I learned early on that if you can run one company,

RB: Jeg lærte at kan man drive én virksomhed,

you can really run any companies.

kan man drive alle.

I mean, companies are all about finding the right people,

Man finder de rigtige mennesker,

inspiring those people, you know, drawing out the best in people.

inspirerer dem og lokker de bedste til.

And I just love learning and I'm incredibly inquisitive

Og jeg elsker at lære og er utrolig spørgelysten.

and I love taking on, you know, the status quo

Jeg elsker at udfordre status quo

and trying to turn it upside down.

og prøver at vende tingene på hovedet.

So I've seen life as one long learning process.

Jeg har set på livet som en lang læreprocess.

And if I see -- you know, if I fly on somebody else's airline

Hvis jeg rejser med fly

and find the experience is not a pleasant one, which it wasn't,

og finder oplevelsen ubehagelig, som det var for 21 år siden,

21 years ago, then I'd think, well, you know, maybe I can create

så tænker jeg, måske kan jeg skabe

the kind of airline that I'd like to fly on.

den type flyselskab jeg gerne vil flyve med.

And so, you know, so got one secondhand 747 from Boeing and gave it a go.

Så jeg købte en brugt 747 fra Boeing og prøvede det af.

CA: Well, that was a bizarre thing,

CA: Det var bisart,

because you made this move that a lot of people advised you was crazy.

for du foretog dig noget mange mente var skørt.

And in fact, in a way, it almost took down your empire at one point.

Og på et tidspunkt fældede det næsten hele dit imperium.

I had a conversation with one of the investment bankers who,

Jeg talte med en investeringsrådgiverne,

at the time when you basically sold Virgin Records

da du dybest set solgte Virgin Records

and invested heavily in Virgin Atlantic,

og investerede stort i Virgin Atlantic,

and his view was that you were trading, you know,

og efter hans mening byttede du

the world's fourth biggest record company

verdens fjerde største pladeselskab

for the twenty-fifth biggest airline and that you were out of your mind.

med det tyvende største flyselskab og at du var gået fra forstanden.

Why did you do that?

Hvorfor gjorde du det?

RB: Well, I think that there's a very thin dividing line between success and failure.

RB: Der er en meget fin grænse mellem succes og fiasko.

And I think if you start a business without financial backing,

Starter man en virksomhed uden finansiel opbakning,

you're likely to go the wrong side of that dividing line.

ender man sandsynligvis på den forkerte side af grænsen.

We had -- we were being attacked by British Airways.

Vi blev angrebet af British Airways.

They were trying to put our airline out of business,

De ville udmanøvrere vores flyselskab,

and they launched what's become known as the dirty tricks campaign.

og startede det der er blevet kendt som den beskidte tricks kampagne.

And I realized that the whole empire was likely to come crashing down

Og jeg blev klar over at hele emperiet ville styrte sammen

unless I chipped in a chip.

medmindre jeg spyttede i kassen.

And in order to protect the jobs of the people who worked for the airline,

Så for at beskytte de ansattes jobs i flyselskabet,

and protect the jobs of the people who worked for the record company,

og i pladeselskabet,

I had to sell the family jewelry to protect the airline.

måtte jeg sælge ud af arvesølvet.

CA: Post-Napster, you're looking like a bit of a genius, actually,

CA: Efter Napster, ligner du lidt af et geni, faktisk,

for that as well.

også på grund af det.

RB: Yeah, as it turned out, it proved to be the right move.

RB: Ja, det viste sig at være et rigtigt træk.

But, yeah, it was sad at the time, but we moved on.

Det var sørgeligt dengang, men vi kom videre.

CA: Now, you use the Virgin brand a lot

CA: Du bruger Virgin brandet meget

and it seems like you're getting synergy from one thing to the other.

og overfører synergi fra det ene projekt til den næste.

What does the brand stand for in your head?

Hvad står brandet for, efter din mening?

RB: Well, I like to think it stands for quality,

RB: Det står for kvalitet,

that you know, if somebody comes across a Virgin company, they --

dvs hvis nogen møder et Virgin selskab, --

CA: They are quality, Richard. Come on now, everyone says quality. Spirit?

CA: Kvalitet, det siger alle jo. Kom nu. Ånd?

RB: No, but I was going to move on this.

RB: Nej, det kommer jeg til.

We have a lot of fun and I think the people who work for it enjoy it.

Vi har det sjovt og jeg tror at de ansatte nyder det.

As I say, we go in and shake up other industries,

Vi rusker op i andre brancher,

and I think, you know, we do it differently

og gør det anderledes

and I think that industries are not quite the same

og har ændret brancher

as a result of Virgin attacking the market.

som resultat af at Virgin angreb markedet.

CA: I mean, there are a few launches you've done

CA: Du har lancheret virksomheder

where the brand maybe hasn't worked quite as well.

hvor brandet måske ikke var helt rigtigt.

I mean, Virgin Brides -- what happened there?

Jeg mener, Virgin Brides -- hvad skete der der?

(Laughter)

(Latter)

RB: We couldn't find any customers.

RB: Vi kunne ikke finde nogen kunder.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

(Applause)

(Bifald)

CA: I was actually also curious why --

CA: Jeg er også nysgerrig efter --

I think you missed an opportunity with your condoms launch. You called it Mates.

Jeg mener du missede en mulighed med dine kondomer Mates.

I mean, couldn't you have used the Virgin brand for that as well?

Kunne Virgin brandet ikke være brugt der også?

Ain't virgin no longer, or something.

Er ikke virgin [jomfru] mere, eller noget.

RB: Again, we may have had problems finding customers.

RB: Igen, det var måske svært.

I mean, we had -- often, when you launch a company and you get customer complaints,

Ofte, når man lancerer et firma og får klager fra kunder,

you know, you can deal with them.

du ved, man kan håndtere dem.

But about three months after the launch of the condom company,

Men cirka tre måneder efter lanceringen,

I had a letter, a complaint,

fik jeg et brev, en klage,

and I sat down and wrote a long letter back to this lady apologizing profusely.

og skrev en lang undskyldning til kvinden.

But obviously, there wasn't a lot I could do about it.

Jeg kunne dog ikke gøre meget.

And then six months later, or nine months after the problem had taken,

Og ni måneder efter problemet opstod,

I got this delightful letter with a picture of the baby

fik jeg et dejligt brev med et billede af barnet

asking if I'd be godfather, which I became.

og blev spurgt om jeg ville være gudfader, hvilket jeg blev.

So, it all worked out well.

Så det endte godt.

CA: Really? You should have brought a picture. That's wonderful.

CA: Virkelig? Du skulle have taget billedet med.

RB: I should have.

RB: Det skulle jeg.

CA: So, just help us with some of the numbers.

CA: Men hjælp mig lige med tallene.

I mean, what are the numbers on this?

Hvad er tallene?

I mean, how big is the group overall?

Hvor stor er koncernen?

How much -- what's the total revenue?

Hvor meget -- hvor stor er omsætningen?

RB: It's about 25 billion dollars now, in total.

RB: Den er ca 25 milliarder dollars nu, i alt.

CA: And how many employees?

CA: Og ansatte?

RB: About 55,000.

RB: Ca 55.000.

CA: So, you've been photographed in various ways at various times

CA: Du er fotograferet en del

and never worrying about putting your dignity on the line or anything like that.

og har aldrig bekymret dig om værdighed, og sådan.

What was that? Was that real?

Hvad var det? Var det ægte?

RB: Yeah. We were launching a megastore in Los Angeles, I think.

RB: Ja, vi åbnede en megabutik i Los Angeles, tror jeg.

No, I mean, I think --

Nej, jeg mener --

CA: But is that your hair?

CA: Er det dit hår?

RB: No.

RB: Nej.

CA: What was that one?

CA: Hvad var det?

RB: Dropping in for tea.

RB: Kom forbi til te.

CA: OK.

CA: OK.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

RB: Ah, that was quite fun. That was a wonderful car-boat in which --

RB: Ah, det var sjovt. En vidunderlig bil-båd hvor --

CA: Oh, that car that we -- actually we --

CA: Åh, den bil som vi -- faktisk --

it was a TEDster event there, I think.

det var et TEDster event, tror jeg.

Is that -- could you still pause on that one actually, for a minute?

Kan vi pause den her, et øjeblik?

(Laughter)

(Latter)

RB: It's a tough job, isn't it?

RB: Er det hårdt?

CA: I mean, it is a tough job.

CA: Jeg mener, det er hårdt arbejde.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

When I first came to America, I used to try this with employees as well

Da jeg først kom til USA, gjorde jeg også dette ved de ansatte

and they kind of -- they have these different rules over here,

og de -- de har andre regler her,

it's very strange.

det er underligt.

RB: I know, I have -- the lawyers say you mustn't do things like that, but --

RB: Advokaterne advarer imod det, men --

CA: I mean, speaking of which, tell us about --

CA: og nu vi er ved det

RB: "Pammy" we launched, you know --

RB: "Pammy", du ved --

mistakenly thought we could take on Coca-Cola,

vi troede fejlagtigt vi kunne gå efter Coca-Cola,

and we launched a cola bottle called "The Pammy"

og lancerede en flaske der hed "The Pammy"

and it was shaped a bit like Pamela Anderson.

og den var formet lidt som Pamela Anderson.

But the trouble is, it kept on tipping over, but --

Den blev dog ved med at falde forover, men --

(Laughter)

(Latter)

CA: Designed by Philippe Starck perhaps?

CA: Designet af Philippe Starck måske?

RB: Of course.

RB: Selvfølgelig.

CA: So, we'll just run a couple more pictures here. Virgin Brides. Very nice.

CA: Vi viser et par billeder mere. Virgin Brides. Meget fint.

And, OK, so stop there. This was -- you had some award I think?

Stop der. Dette var -- du fik en pris tror jeg?

RB: Yeah, well, 25 years earlier, we'd launched the Sex Pistols'

RB: Jo, jamen, 25 år tidligere lancerede vi Sex Pistols'

"God Save The Queen," and I'd certainly never expected

"God Save The Queen," og jeg havde aldrig forventet

that 25 years later -- that she'd actually knight us.

at hun 25 år senere ville slå os til ridder.

But somehow, she must have had a forgetful memory, I think.

Men hun har nok en kort hukommelse, tror jeg.

CA: Well, God saved her and you got your just reward.

CA: Jamen, Gud bevarede hende og du fik din fortjente pris.

Do you like to be called Sir Richard, or how?

Foretrækker du "Sir Richard", eller?

RB: Nobody's ever called me Sir Richard.

RB: Ingen kalder mig Sir Richard.

Occasionally in America, I hear people saying Sir Richard

I USA er der af og til nogen der siger Sir Richard,

and think there's some Shakespearean play taking place.

og det lyder som et Shakespeare stykke.

But nowhere else anyway.

Men ingen andre steder, i hvert fald.

CA: OK. So can you use your knighthood for anything or is it just ...

CA: Kan din titel bruges til noget …

RB: No. I suppose if you're having problems

RB: Nej. Jeg tænker hvis det er svært

getting a booking in a restaurant or something,

at reservere plads i en restaurant,

that might be worth using it.

kan det måske bruges.

CA: You know, it's not Richard Branson. It's Sir Richard Branson.

CA: Det er ikke Richard Branson. Det er Sir Richard Branson.

RB: I'll go get the secretary to use it.

RB: Jeg får sekretæren til at bruge det.

CA: OK. So let's look at the space thing.

CA: Lad os se på rum tingen.

I think, with us, we've got a video that shows what you're up to,

Jeg tror vi har et videoklip,

and Virgin Galactic up in the air. (Video)

og Virgin Galactic i luften. (Video)

So that's the Bert Rutan designed spaceship?

Det Bert Rutan designede rumskib?

RB: Yeah, it'll be ready in -- well, ready in 12 months

RB: Ja, den er klar om 12 måneder

and then we do 12 months extensive testing.

og derefter omfattende test i 12 måneder.

And then 24 months from now,

Og 24 måneder fra nu,

people will be able to take a ride into space.

vil man kunne tage en tur ud i rummet.

CA: So this interior is Philippe Starcke designed?

CA: Dette interiør er designet af Philippe Starcke?

RB: Philippe has done the -- yeah, quite a bit of it:

RB: Philippe har lavet temmelig meget af det:

the logos and he's building the space station in New Mexico.

Logoerne, og han bygger rumstationen i New Mexico.

And basically, he's just taken an eye

Og dybest set, er det et øje.

and the space station will be one giant eye,

Rumstationen bliver et gigantisk øje,

so when you're in space,

så når man er i rummet,

you ought to be able to see this massive eye looking up at you.

kan man se dette store øje kigge op på en.

And when you land, you'll be able to go back into this giant eye.

Og når man lander, er man tilbage i dette kæmpestore øje.

But he's an absolute genius when it comes to design.

Han er ganske enkelt et geni til design.

CA: But you didn't have him design the engine?

CA: Men du lod ham ikke designe motoren?

RB: Philippe is quite erratic,

RB: Philippe er temmelig flakkende,

so I think that he wouldn't be the best person to design the engine, no.

så han bør nok ikke designe motoren, nej.

CA: He gave a wonderful talk here two days ago.

CA: Han talte her for to dage siden.

RB: Yeah? No, he is a --

RB: Ja? Nej, han er

CA: Well, some people found it wonderful,

CA: Nogle mente det var vidunderligt,

some people found it completely bizarre.

og andre at det var meget mærkeligt.

But, I personally found it wonderful.

Jeg synes det var vidunderligt.

RB: He's a wonderful enthusiast, which is why I love him. But ...

RB: Han er utrolig entusiastisk, og det elsker jeg ham for. Men …

CA: So, now, you've always had this exploration bug in you.

CA: Så du har altid haft denne trang til at udforske.

Have you ever regretted that?

Har du nogensinde fortrudt det?

RB: Many times.

RB: Ret tit.

I mean, I think with the ballooning and boating expeditions we've done in the past.

Jeg mener, med ballon- og bådsport ekspeditionerne...

Well, I got pulled out of the sea I think six times by helicopters, so --

De hentede mig op af havet seks gange med helikopter så --

and each time, I didn't expect to come home to tell the tale.

jeg havde ingen forventning om selv at kunne fortælle om det

So in those moments,

I disse øjeblikke,

you certainly wonder what you're doing up there or --

undrer man sig over hvad man egentlig laver --

CA: What was the closest you got to --

CA: Hvornår var du tættest på,

when did you think, this is it, I might be on my way out?

at tænke: det var det, jeg stiller træskoene?

RB: Well, I think the balloon adventures were -- each one was,

RB: Jeg tror luftballonerne -- hver eneste tur

each one, actually, I think we came close.

var vel egentlig ret tæt på

And, I mean, first of all we --

Og for det første --

nobody had actually crossed the Atlantic in a hot air balloon before,

ingen havde krydset Atlanterhavet i en luftballon før,

so we had to build a hot air balloon that was capable of flying in the jet stream,

så vi måtte bygge en varmluftballon der kunne flyve i jetstrømmen,

and we weren't quite sure,

og vi var ikke sikre på,

when a balloon actually got into the jet stream,

om en ballon i jetstrømmen,

whether it would actually survive the 200, 220 miles an hour winds that you can find up there.

kunne klare vinde på 320 til 350 km i timen

And so, just the initial lift off from Sugarloaf to cross the Atlantic,

Da vi første gang lettede fra Sugarloaf for at krydse atlanterhavet,

as we were pushing into the jet stream, this enormous balloon --

og nærmede os jetstrømmen, denne enorme ballon --

the top of the balloon ended up going at a couple of hundred miles an hour,

toppen af ballonen kom op på 300 km/t,

the capsule that we were in at the bottom was going at maybe two miles an hour,

kapslen vi befandt os i var måske på 3 km/t,

and it just took off.

og så kom der virkelig fart på.

And it was like holding onto a thousand horses.

Og det var som at holde på tusind heste.

And we were just crossing every finger,

Vi krydsede bare fingre,

praying that the balloon would hold together, which, fortunately, it did.

og bad til at ballonen ville holde, det gjorde den heldigvis

But the ends of all those balloon trips were, you know --

Men alle de ballonrejser, du ved --

something seemed to go wrong every time,

hver gang, gik noget galt,

and on that particular occasion, the more experienced balloonist who was with me

og denne gang hoppede den erfarne ballonfarer ud

jumped, and left me holding on for dear life.

og efterlod mig, klyngende til livet

(Laughter)

(Latter)

CA: Did he tell you to jump, or he just said, "I'm out of here!" and ...

CA: Bad han dig hoppe ud, eller smuttede han bare? …

RB: No, he told me jump, but once his weight had gone,

RB: Nej, han sagde jeg skulle hoppe, men da hans vægt var væk,

the balloon just shot up to 12,000 feet and I ...

skød ballonen op til 3.600 meter og jeg …

CA: And you inspired an Ian McEwan novel I think with that.

CA: og du gav inspiration til en Ian McEwan roman.

RB: Yeah. No, I put on my oxygen mask and stood on top of the balloon,

RB: Ja. Nej, jeg tog min iltmaske på og stod på toppen af ballonen,

with my parachute, looking at the swirling clouds below,

med min faldskærm og kiggede på de hvirvlende skyer under mig,

trying to pluck up my courage to jump into the North Sea, which --

forsøgte at samle mod til at hoppe ned i Nordsøen, hvilket --

and it was a very, very, very lonely few moments.

og jeg var meget ensom i det øjeblik.

But, anyway, we managed to survive it.

Men vi overlevede det.

CA: Did you jump? Or it came down in the end?

CA: Hoppede du? Eller styrtede den ned?

RB: Well, I knew I had about half an hour's fuel left,

RB: Jeg vidste der var brændstof til en halv time mere.

and I also knew that the chances were that if I jumped,

og hvis jeg hoppede

I would only have a couple of minutes of life left.

havde jeg kun minutter at leve i

So I climbed back into the capsule and just desperately tried

Så jeg klatrede tilbage i kapslen og prøvede desperat

to make sure that I was making the right decision.

at sikre jeg traf den rigtige beslutning.

And wrote some notes to my family. And then climbed back up again,

Jeg skrev notater til familien. Og så klatrede jeg op igen,

looked down at those clouds again,

kiggede ned på skyerne en gang mere,

climbed back into the capsule again.

kravlede tilbage i kapslen,

And then finally, just thought, there's a better way.

og tænkte så, at der var en bedre udvej.

I've got, you know, this enormous balloon above me,

Jeg havde denne enorme ballon over mig,

it's the biggest parachute ever, why not use it?

den største faldskærm. Hvorfor ikke bruge den?

And so I managed to fly the balloon down through the clouds,

Det lykkedes mig at styre den ned gennem skyerne

and about 50 feet, before I hit the sea, threw myself over.

og ca 15 meter over bølgerne, kastede jeg mig ud over siden.

And the balloon hit the sea

Og ballonen ramte havet

and went shooting back up to 10,000 feet without me.

og skød så 3 km op over mig

But it was a wonderful feeling being in that water and --

Men det var en vidunderlig følelse at være i vandet og --

CA: What did you write to your family?

CA: Hvad skrev du til din familie?

RB: Just what you would do in a situation like that:

RB: Bare det man ville skrive i sådan en situation:

just I love you very much. And

Jeg elsker dig meget højt. Og

I'd already written them a letter before going on this trip, which --

jeg havde allerede skrevet til dem inden jeg tog på denne tur, som --

just in case anything had happened.

i tilfælde af noget ville ske.

But fortunately, they never had to use it.

Heldigvis blev det aldrig afleveret.

CA: Your companies have had incredible PR value out of these heroics.

CA: Dine virksomheder har fået utrolig PR ud af dine eventyr.

The years -- and until I stopped looking at the polls,

Årene -- og indtil jeg holdte op med at læse meningsmålinger,

you were sort of regarded as this great hero in the U.K. and elsewhere.

blev du opfattet som den helt store helt i Storbritannien og andre steder.

And cynics might say, you know, this is just a smart business guy

Og kynikere vil måske sige du bare er en smart forretningsmand

doing what it takes to execute his particular style of marketing.

der gør hvad den type marketing kræver.

How much was the PR value part of this?

Hvor stor en del af dette omhandlede PR værdien?

RB: Well, of course, the PR experts said that as an airline owner,

RB: PR eksperterne sagde, at som ejer af et flyselskab,

the last thing you should be doing is heading off in balloons and boats,

er balloner og både det sidste man bør rejse ud i

and crashing into the seas.

og styrte i havet med

(Laughter)

(Latter)

CA: They have a point, Richard.

CA: De har en pointe, Richard.

RB: In fact, I think our airline took a full page ad at the time saying,

RB: Jeg mener at flyselskabet dengang lavede en helsides annonce hvor der stod,

you know, come on, Richard,

Hør nu, Richard,

there are better ways of crossing the Atlantic.

der er bedre måder at krydse Atlanterhavet på.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

CA: To do all this,

CA: At du gennemførte alt dette

you must have been a genius from the get-go, right?

må have krævet du var et geni helt fra starten, ikke?

RB: Well, I won't contradict that.

RB: Jeg siger dig ikke imod.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

CA: OK, this isn't exactly hardball. OK.

CA: OK, jeg er vidst for blid.

Didn't -- weren't you just terrible at school?

Var du ikke forfærdelig i skolen?

RB: I was dyslexic. I had no understanding of schoolwork whatsoever.

RB: Jeg var ordblind og forstod intet

I certainly would have failed IQ tests.

Jeg ville helt sikkert have dumpet IQ testene.

And it was one of the reasons I left school when I was 15 years old.

Bl.a. derfor gik jeg ud af skolen som 15-årig.

And if I -- if I'm not interested in something, I don't grasp it.

Hvis noget ikke fanger mig forstår jeg det heller ikke.

As somebody who's dyslexic,

Og som ordblind

you also have some quite bizarre situations.

kommer man ud i bisarre situationer.

I mean, for instance, I've had to -- you know,

For eksempel... Jeg har ledet

I've been running the largest group of private companies in Europe,

den største gruppe af private virksomheder i Europa,

but haven't been able to know the difference between net and gross.

men kendte ikke forskel på netto og brutto.

And so the board meetings have been fascinating.

Bestyrelsesmøderne har været fascinerende.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And so, it's like, good news or bad news?

Man tænker: Er det godt eller dårligt nyt?

And generally, the people would say, oh, well that's bad news.

De fleste ville sige at det er dårligt nyt.

CA: But just to clarify, the 25 billion dollars is gross, right? That's gross?

CA: Men de 25 milliarder er brutto, ikke?

(Laughter)

(Latter)

RB: Well, I hope it's net actually, having --

RB: Jeg håber det er netto, faktisk --

(Laughter) --

(Latter)

I've got it right.

Jeg har styr på det.

CA: No, trust me, it's gross.

CA: Nej, stol på mig, det er brutto.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

RB: So, when I turned 50, somebody took me outside the boardroom and said,

RB: Som 50 årig, blev jeg hevet til side:

"Look Richard, here's a -- let me draw on a diagram.

"Hør engang Richard, lad mig illustrere det.

Here's a net in the sea,

Her er et net i havet,

and the fish have been pulled from the sea into this net.

og fiskene i nettet

And that's the profits you've got left over in this little net,

er overskuddet som er tilbage

everything else is eaten."

når andet er blevet spist."

And I finally worked it all out.

Og endelig forstod jeg det.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

(Applause)

(Bifald)

CA: But, I mean, at school -- so as well as being,

CA: I skolen -- ud over at være,

you know, doing pretty miserably academically,

du ved, temmelig dårligt akademisk,

but you were also the captain of the cricket and football teams.

var du også kaptajnen på cricket- og fodboldholdene.

So you were kind of a -- you were a natural leader,

Du var en naturlig leder,

but just a bit of a ... Were you a rebel then, or how would you ...

men måske også en smule rebelsk?

RB: Yeah, I think I was a bit of a maverick and -- but I ... And I was,

RB: Jeg var nok lidt af en enspænder, men

yeah, I was fortunately good at sport,

heldigvis god til sport,

and so at least I had something to excel at, at school.

så noget kunne jeg da udmærke mig ved, i skolen.

CA: And some bizarre things happened just earlier in your life.

CA: Og tidligt i livet, skete der underlige ting

I mean, there's the story about your mother

jeg mener, historien om din mor

allegedly dumping you in a field, aged four, and saying "OK, walk home."

der angiveligt efterlod dig på en mark som 4 årig, og bad dig finde hjem selv.

Did this really happen?

Skete dette virkeligt?

RB: She was, you know,

RB: Hun var, du ved,

she felt that we needed to stand on our own two feet from an early age.

hun mente vi skulle være selvstændige fra en tidlig alder.

So she did things to us, which now she'd be arrested for,

Så hun gjorde ting man bliver arresteret for i dag.

such as pushing us out of the car,

som f.eks. at sætte os af,

and telling us to find our own way to Granny's,

8 km før bedstemors hjem

about five miles before we actually got there.

så vi selv skulle finde vej.

And making us go on wonderful, long bike rides.

Og sendte os på lange vidunderlige cykelture.

And we were never allowed to watch television and the like.

Fjernsyn og lign. var forbudt.

CA: But is there a risk here?

CA: Men er der en risiko her?

I mean, there's a lot of people in the room who are wealthy, and they've got kids,

Der er mange velhavende forældre her i lokalet,

and we've got this dilemma about how you bring them up.

og vi har alle dette dilemma omkring opdragelse.

Do you look at the current generation of kids coming up and think

Tænker du om den nuværende generation

they're too coddled, they don't know what they've got,

at der bliver pylret for meget om dem,

we're going to raise a generation of privileged ...

og de bliver for priviligerede …

RB: No, I think if you're bringing up kids,

RB: Nej, når man har børn,

you just want to smother them with love and praise and enthusiasm.

vil man bare elske, rose og motivere dem.

So I don't think you can mollycoddle your kids too much really.

Jeg mener ikke man kan pylre for meget.

CA: You didn't turn out too bad, I have to say, I'm ...

CA: Det er nu gået meget godt for dig, må jeg sige...

Your headmaster said to you --

Din rektor sagde --

I mean he found you kind of an enigma at your school --

eller mente, at du var lidt af et mysterie --

he said, you're either going to be a millionaire or go to prison,

han sagde, du bliver millioner eller kriminel,

and I'm not sure which.

og jeg er ikke sikker på

Which of those happened first?

hvilken af de ting skete først?

(Laughter)

(Latter)

RB: Well, I've done both. I think I went to prison first.

RB: De skete begge. Jeg kom vist i fængsel først.

I was actually prosecuted under two quite ancient acts in the U.K.

Faktisk blev jeg tiltalt på to punkter i Storbritannien.

I was prosecuted under the 1889 Venereal Diseases Act

Jeg blev retsforfulgt under 1889 Venereal Diseases Act

and the 1916 Indecent Advertisements Act.

og 1916 Indecent Advertisements Act.

On the first occasion, for mentioning the word venereal disease in public, which --

Først for offentligt at nævne ordet kønssygdom --

we had a center where we would help young people who had problems.

vi havde et center for unge med problemer.

And one of the problems young people have is venereal disease.

Et af dem var kønssygdomme.

And there's an ancient law that says

Og en gammel lov siger

you can't actually mention the word venereal disease or print it in public.

at man ikke må sige eller skrive ordet kønssygdom offentligt.

So the police knocked on the door, and told us they were going to arrest us

Derfor bankede politiet på døren, og ville arrestere os

if we carried on mentioning the word venereal disease.

hvis vi fortsat nævnte ordet kønssygdomme.

We changed it to social diseases

Vi ændrede det til sociale sygdomme

and people came along with acne and spots,

og folk kom med akne og pletter,

but nobody came with VD any more.

men ingen kom med KS mere.

So, we put it back to VD and promptly got arrested.

Vi gik tilbage til KS og blev straks arresteret.

And then subsequently, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols,"

Og efterfølgende, "Glem 'Bollocks' , Her er Sex Pistols',"

the word bollocks, the police decided was a rude word and so we were arrested

ordet 'bollocks', var for vulgært og vi blev arresteret

for using the word bollocks on the Sex Pistols' album.

for at bruge ordet på Sex Pistols' album.

And John Mortimer, the playwright, defended us.

John Mortimer, skriptforfatteren, forsvarede os.

And he asked if I could find a linguistics expert

Han bad mig finde en ekspert indenfor lingvistik

to come up with a different definition of the word bollocks.

som kunne finde et synonym for ordet 'bollocks'.

And so I rang up Nottingham University,

Så jeg ringede til Nottingham University,

and I asked to talk to the professor of linguistics.

og talte med professoren i lingvistik.

And he said, "Look, bollocks is not a -- has nothing to do with balls whatsoever.

Og han sagde, "Hør engang, 'bollocks' har intet at gøre med nosser.

It's actually a nickname given to priests in the eighteenth century."

Det er et navn for præster i det 18. århundrede."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And he went, "Furthermore, I'm a priest myself."

Og han sagde, "Iøvrigt, er jeg selv præst."

And so I said, "Would you mind coming to the court?"

Jeg spurgte: "Vil du sige det i retten?"

And he said he'd be delighted. And I said --

Det ville han hjertens gerne.

and he said, "Would you like me to wear my dog collar?"

"Skal jeg bære min præstekrave?"

And I said, "Yes, definitely. Please."

Og jeg sagde, "Ja, bestemt. Gerne."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

CA: That's great.

CA: Fantastisk!

RB: So our key witness argued that it was actually

RB: Han bevidnede at, vi egentlig skrev

"Never Mind the Priest, Here's the Sex Pistols."

"Glem Præsten, Her er Sex Pistols.'"

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And the judge found us -- reluctantly found us not guilty, so ...

Dommeren måtte modvilligt erklære os ikke-skyldig.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

CA: That is outrageous.

CA: Det er skandaløst!

(Applause)

(Bifald)

So seriously, is there a dark side?

Men seriøst, er der en mørk side?

A lot of people would say there's no way

Mange vil sige at man umuligt

that someone could put together this incredible collection of businesses

kan opbygge en så utrolig samling virksomheder

without knifing a few people in the back,

uden at have spidse albuer

you know, doing some ugly things.

du ved, stikke nogen.

You've been accused of being ruthless.

Du er blevet kaldt hensynsløs.

There was a nasty biography written about you by someone.

Der skrevet en ubehagelig biografi om dig.

Is any of it true? Is there an element of truth in it?

Er der et element af sandhed i det?

RB: I don't actually think that the stereotype

RB: Jeg tror ikke at stereotypen

of a businessperson treading all over people to get to the top,

på en forretningsmand der træder andre over tæerne på vej op,

generally speaking, works.

generelt set, fungerer.

I think if you treat people well,

Behandler man andre ordenligt,

people will come back and come back for more.

kommer de tilbage igen og igen efter mere.

And I think all you have in life is your reputation

Det eneste man har, er sit gode navn

and it's a very small world.

og verden er meget lille.

And I actually think that the best way

Jeg mener at den bedste måde

of becoming a successful business leader is dealing with people fairly and well,

at blive succesrig forretningsleder, er at behandle andre fair og ordenligt,

and I like to think that's how we run Virgin.

og sådan gør vi i Virgin.

CA: And what about the people who love you and who see you spending --

CA: Og hvad med dem der elsker dig og ser dig bruge --

you keep getting caught up in these new projects,

du involverer dig konstant i nye projekter,

but it almost feels like you're addicted to launching new stuff.

og virker nærmest afhængig af at lancere nye tiltag.

You get excited by an idea and, kapow!

Du begejstres af en ide og, kapow!

I mean, do you think about life balance?

Hvordan balancerer du

How do your family feel about

mellem familie

each time you step into something big and new?

og nye projekter?

RB: I also believe that being a father's incredibly important,

RB: Jeg mener det at være far er utrolig vigtigt,

so from the time the kids were very young,

så lige fra ungerne var helt små,

you know, when they go on holiday, I go on holiday with them.

tog jeg på ferie med dem.

And so we spend a very good sort of three months away together.

Vi havde tre gode måneder på ferie sammen.

Yes, I'll, you know, be in touch. We're very lucky,

Vi holder kontakten. Vi er meget heldige,

we have this tiny little island in the Caribbean and we can --

at have en lille ø i Caribien,

so I can take them there and we can bring friends,

hvor vi mødes og har venner med

and we can play together,

og vi kan lege sammen,

but I can also keep in touch with what's going on.

men jeg får også føling med hvad der sker.

CA: You started talking in recent years

CA: Du er de senere år begyndt at tale

about this term capitalist philanthropy.

om kapitalistisk filantropi.

What is that?

Hvad er det?

RB: Capitalism has been proven to be a system that works.

RB: Kapitalisme har vist sig at fungere.

You know, the alternative, communism, has not worked.

Alternativet, kommunismen, har ikke fungeret.

But the problem with capitalism is

Men problemet med kapitalisme er

extreme wealth ends up in the hands of a few people,

at kæmpe formuer ender i hænderne på få mennesker,

and therefore extreme responsibility, I think, goes with that wealth.

som dermed har et enormt ansvar.

And I think it's important that the individuals,

Disse heldige individer,

who are in that fortunate position, do not end up competing

må ikke ende med at konkurrere

for bigger and bigger boats, and bigger and bigger cars,

om større og større både og biler,

but, you know, use that money to either create new jobs

men i stedet investere og skabe nye jobs

or to tackle issues around the world.

eller løse problemer rundt om i verden.

CA: And what are the issues that you worry about most, care most about,

CA: Og hvad optager dig mest - hvad bekymrer dig,

want to turn your resources toward?

hvad vil du bruge dine ressourcer på?

RB: Well, there's -- I mean there's a lot of issues.

RB: Jamen, der er meget -

I mean global warming certainly is a massive threat to mankind

global opvarmning er bestemt en massiv trussel mod menneskeheden

and we are putting a lot of time and energy into,

vi investerer meget tid og energi i,

A, trying to come up with alternative fuels

A) at finde alternativt brændstof

and, B, you know, we just launched this prize, which is really a prize

og, B), vi har indstiftet en pris, en stor pris

in case we don't get an answer on alternative fuels,

i tilfælde af vi ikke finder alternativt brændstof,

in case we don't actually manage to get the carbon emissions

at vi ikke hurtigt mindsker udledningen

cut down quickly, and in case we go through the tipping point.

af CO2, og rammer et kritiske punkt.

We need to try to encourage people to come up with a way

Vi må motivere folk til at opfinde metoder

of extracting carbon out of the Earth's atmosphere.

der kan hive CO2 ud af jordens atmosfære.

And we just -- you know, there weren't really people

Tidligere forskede ingen i den retning

working on that before, so we wanted people to try to --

så vi ville have folk til at --

all the best brains in the world to start thinking about that,

alle de bedste hjerner i verden, til at overveje det,

and also to try to extract the methane

og også at trække metanen ud

out of the Earth's atmosphere as well.

af jordens atmosfære.

And actually, we've had about 15,000 people fill in the forms

15.000 mennesker har udfyldt blanketterne

saying they want to give it a go.

og sagt de vil forsøge det.

And so we only need one, so we're hopeful.

Og vi har kun brug for en, så vi er håbefulde.

CA: And you're also working in Africa on a couple of projects?

CA: Og du arbejder på et par projekter i Afrika?

RB: Yes, I mean, we've got -- we're setting up something called

RB: Ja, vi starter noget der hedder

the war room, which is maybe the wrong word.

krigsværelset, hvilket måske er det forkerte ord.

We're trying to -- maybe we'll change it -- but anyway, it's a war room

Måske ændrer vi det - men lige nu er det krigsværelset

to try to coordinate all the attack that's going on in Africa,

hvor vi prøver at koordinere indsatsen,

all the different social problems in Africa,

på de forskellige sociale problemer i Afrika,

and try to look at best practices.

og bedste praksis

So, for instance,

For eksempel,

there's a doctor in Africa that's found that

en læge i Afrika har fundet ud af,

if you give a mother antiretroviral drugs at 24 weeks, when she's pregnant,

at giver man antiretroviral medicin i graviditetens 24. uge,

that the baby will not have HIV when it's born.

spredes HIV ikke fra mor til barn.

And so disseminating that information to

At udbrede den information til

around the rest of Africa is important.

resten af Afrika, er vigtigt.

CA: The war room sounds, it sounds powerful and dramatic.

CA: Krigsværelset, det lyder magtfuldt og dramatisk.

And is there a risk that the kind of the business heroes of the West

Og er der en risiko for at vestens virksomheds-helte

get so excited about -- I mean, they're used to having an idea,

bliver så begejstrede - jeg mener, de er vant til at få en ide,

getting stuff done, and they believe profoundly

og føre den ud i livet

in their ability to make a difference in the world.

og deres mulighed for at gøre en forskel.

Is there a risk that we go to places like Africa and say,

Er der risiko for at vi i lande som Afrika,

we've got to fix this problem and we can do it,

mener at vi kan og bør imødegå udfordringer

I've got all these billions of dollars, you know, da, da, da --

med alle disse milliarder af dollars.

here's the big idea. And kind of take a much more complex situation

Vi blander os måske i komplekse situationer

and actually end up making a mess of it. Do you worry about that?

og ender med at kludre i det. Bekymrer det dig?

RB: Well, first of all, on this particular situation, we're actually --

RB: Faktisk, i dette tilfælde

we're working with the government on it.

samarbejder vi med regeringen.

I mean, Thabo Mbeki's had his problems with accepting

Thabo Mbekis ville helst ikke acceptere at

HIV and AIDS are related, but this is a way, I think,

HIV og AIDS er relateret. Det er hans måde, tror jeg

of him tackling this problem and instead of the world criticizing him,

at håndtere det. Så i stedet for at kritiserer ham

it's a way of working with him, with his government.

er der en måde at samarbejde med ham og hans regering.

It's important that if people do go to Africa and do try to help,

Hvis folk vil til Afrika for at hjælpe, er det vigtigt

they don't just go in there and then leave after a few years.

de ikke bare er der et par år og så rejser igen.

It's got to be consistent.

Indsatsen skal være konsistent.

But I think business leaders can bring their entrepreneurial know-how

Virksomhedsledere kan bidrage med iværksætter erfaring,

and help governments approach things slightly differently.

og hjælpe regeringer med alternative tilgange

For instance, we're setting up clinics in Africa

F.eks. starter vi klinikker i Afrika

where we're going to be giving

hvor vi uddeler

free antiretroviral drugs, free TB treatment

gratis antiretroviral medicin, gratis TB behandling

and free malaria treatment.

og gratis malaria behandling.

But we're also trying to make them self-sustaining clinics,

Men det skal også være selvkørende klinikker,

so that people pay for some other aspects.

så der skal også investeres i andre aspekter.

CA: I mean a lot of cynics say about someone like yourself, or Bill Gates,

CA: Kynikere siger om personer som dig eller Bill Gates,

or whatever, that this is really being -- it's almost driven by

at man bare ønsker at

some sort of desire again, you know, for the right image,

tillægge sig det rigtige image, og dumle sin skyldfølelse

for guilt avoidance and not like a real philanthropic instinct.

og ikke er drevet af ægte filantropi.

What would you say to them?

Hvad vil du sige til dem?

RB: Well, I think that everybody --

RB: Alle mennesker

people do things for a whole variety of different reasons

handler på baggrund af en række forskellige årsager.

and I think that, you know, when I'm on me deathbed,

På mit dødsleje,

I will want to feel that I've made a difference

vil jeg føle at jeg har gjort en forskel

to other people's lives.

i andre menneskers liv.

And that may be a selfish thing to think,

Og det er måske egoistisk,

but it's the way I've been brought up.

men det er sådan jeg er opdraget.

I think if I'm in a position to

Hvis jeg har mulighed, for at ændre

radically change other people's lives for the better,

menneskers liv radikalt i en bedre retning,

I should do so.

bør jeg gøre det.

CA: How old are you?

CA: Hvor gammel er du?

RB: I'm 56.

RB: Jeg er 56.

CA: I mean, the psychologist Erik Erikson says that -- as I understand him

CA: Som jeg forstår psykologen Erik Erikson

and I'm a total amateur -- but that during 30s, 40s people are driven by

og jeg er en glad amatør - men i 30-40 års alderen

this desire to grow and that's where they get their fulfillment.

ønsker vi personlig udvikling.

50s, 60s, the mode of operation shifts more to the quest for wisdom

I 50-60 års alderen søger vi visdom

and a search for legacy.

og et eftermæle.

I mean, it seems like you're still

Det virker som om du stadig

a little bit in the growth phases,

udvikler dig personligt,

you're still doing these incredible new plans.

og stadig udtænker fantastiske nye planer.

How much do you think about legacy,

Tænker du på dit eftermæle,

and what would you like your legacy to be?

og hvad det skal være?

RB: I don't think I think too much about legacy.

RB: Jeg tænker ikke så meget på mit eftermæle.

I mean, I like to -- you know, my grandmother lived to 101,

Min bedstemor blev 101 år,

so hopefully I've got another 30 or 40 years to go.

så jeg har forhåbentlig 30-40 år tilbage.

No, I just want to live life to its full.

Jeg vil bare leve livet fuldt ud.

You know, if I can make a difference,

Hvis bare jeg kan gøre en forskel,

I hope to be able to make a difference.

og det håber jeg, jeg kan.

And I think one of the positive things at the moment is

Noget positivt i øjeblikket er f.eks.

you've got Sergey and Larry from Google, for instance,

at vi har Sergey og Larry fra Google,

who are good friends.

der er gode venner.

And, thank God, you've got two people

Og heldigvis er der disse to

who genuinely care about the world and with that kind of wealth.

som oprigtigt bekymrer sig om verden og med den form for rigdom -

If they had that kind of wealth and they didn't care about the world,

hvis de ikke bekymrede sig om verden,

it would be very worrying.

ville det være foruroligende.

And you know they're going to make a hell of a difference to the world.

De kommer til at gøre en kæmpe forskel.

And I think it's important

Og det er vigtigt

that people in that kind of position do make a difference.

at mennesker i den position gør en forskel.

CA: Well, Richard, when I was starting off in business,

CA: Da jeg startede

I knew nothing about it and I also was sort of --

vidste jeg intet om at drive forretning og troede

I thought that business people were supposed to just be ruthless

at forretningsfolk skulle være hensynsløse

and that that was the only way you could have a chance of succeeding.

og at det var sådan man fik succes.

And you actually did inspire me. I looked at you, I thought,

Du inspirerede mig. Jeg tænkte,

well, he's made it. Maybe there is a different way.

måske er der andre måder.

So I would like to thank you for that inspiration,

Jeg takker for den inspiration,

and for coming to TED today. Thank you.

og for at komme til TED i dag. Tak.

Thank you so much.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)