Richard Branson : An Inspirational Figure

Only 9% percent of American companies offer paid paternity leave for all their employees (Ramnarace,). Since Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are underpaid, it is very hard for fathers to be able to take a long absence from work and not be paid for the time off. 86 percent of men said they would not take a paid leave unless they made at least 70 percent of their current salary (Ramnarace,). There are 79 countries that have laws that require companies to offer paternity leave for fathers. There are 29 countries in Africa, 7 in Asia, 5 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 12 in Lain America, 2 in the Middle East, and 24 in the Developed Economies (Ramnarace,). The United States is still behind by only having 4 states that have adopted the new laws allowing fathers a leave of absence from work with some sort of pay. While the current family leave law allows for 12 work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, I believe the law should be expanded worldwide to allow paid leave for all fathers without using their accumulated paid leave credits (Parental).

Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group has been a household name in the United Kingdom for over twenty years. He is well respected in the business world. He is the founder of the Virgin Group, which is known for many different things such as cell phones, record labels, airlines and many more. “Branson is also known for his unique character and leadership styles, one who is not afraid to take risks, and believes that people are the foundation to his company's success. If I were to first characterize his leadership style I would say he is definitely a democratic leader. He truly feels that getting other peoples input and listening to what

Becoming a parent is beautiful yet stressful time in many people's lives. Emotions of joy and worry fill the mind of expecting parents as they work to provide a loving and financially stable home for their family. Both parents wish to actively support their child and their spouse during this time of transition, however, corporations are making this task difficult. Maternity leave is a benefit that most companies provide, but only for their female employees. Male employees are not given the same opportunity to share the responsibility of childcare with their wife or to develop a bond early on with their child. Providing fathers maternity leave would give them time to dedicate themselves to the growth of their child, allow the mother to heal from giving birth, and promote equality within the family unit and in the workplace.

Is it coincidental that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Bill Joy and many other multi-millionaires were all born within a span of 3 years? Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, suspects that there is something more behind this occurrence than just a simple coincidence. He asserts that there is no such thing as a self-made man and success does not come from natural talent, rather it comes from extraordinary opportunities and hidden advantages. In Outliers, Gladwell attempts to debunk the myth that people are successful because of themselves, and not because of other factors. Even Malcolm Gladwell acknowledges that passion and hard work are required to succeed. However, he believes that this passion and time to put in the work would not be possible without the aid of extraordinary opportunities. Gladwell prepares a firm set of logical arguments, including the advantages of birth dates, cultural legacy and family backgrounds, to guarantee that his audience will be convinced of his conviction.

The lack of a paid parental leave law in the country does not necessarily mean that it is absent in the U.S. labor market. Some generous and more progressive companies do recognize the importance of the leave to employees and do offer it. According to the Employee Benefits Survey of 2015, 21% of employers nationally offer some paid maternity leave while 17% offer some paid paternity/adoption leave. However, about a fifth don’t have any kind of protected maternity, paternity, or adoptive leave. (Ray, 8; Time, n. pag.)

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born July 18th, 1950, in Surrey, England. He struggled in school and eventually dropped out at the age of 16. He started his first business after dropping out from school. In 1972, he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and shortly afterwards he opened a record shop in London. This kick-started his Virgin brand globally, With more than 400 companies in over 30 countries, with different business ventures from alcoholic beverages to financial services, including airlines Virgin Atlantic and Virgin America, as well as wireless company Virgin Mobile. In addition, it includes international health club Virgin Active.

Every single person should be aware of its rights and benefits as a worker in a company. A benefit that commonly women get is, “Maternity leave,” or “Family leave.” This an principally significant topic, since in some companies, and corporations this right is not truly respected, and some employees don’t know how to fight for their privileges.

1. Richard Branson's leadership style works for his particular role as visionary and figurehead of his diverse group of companies under the Virgin Group umbrella. However diversified the Virgin Group may be, Branson remains an essentially charismatic and transformative leader. His leadership philosophy is built on employee empowerment and stimulating employee satisfaction. In his own words, Branson states, ""Rather than focusing on mistakes, catch someone doing something right every day," (cited by Adonis, 2010). Likewise, Branson advises that managers "place greater emphasis on unearthing what their employees are thinking and feeling," (cited by Adonis, 2010).

One of the first most successful business mogul, Jonny Rockefeller achieved tremendous financial success. “The New Tycoons: John D. Rockefeller” He became one of America’s first billionaire. As a capitalist his goal was to make money. He envisioned himself as one of the richest person in America. Becoming a billionaire wasn’t something that was handed to him on a silver platter. “10 People Living the American Dream” Growing up he was one of six children. His mother raised him mostly single-handedly. He held various jobs to help support his family. Eventually his brother and him ventured in the oil business and monopolized the industry.

Elon Musk is one of the most intelligent people alive as well as one of the richest with a net worth of around 20 billion dollars. Musk is part of many large companies such as Neuralink, The Boring Company, Tesla Motors, PayPal, SpaceX, and more. Although Musk seems to have a wonderful life, he faced many struggles on his way to becoming a popular and wealthy entrepreneur. When Elon was a kid, he was once thrown down the stairs and beaten up until he blacked out by schoolmates, but this did not stop him because as a 12 year old student, Musk created a computer game called Blastar which he sold to a computer magazine (Vance). He later founded his first company with his brother called Zip2. Zip2 was funded by Musk’s dad and Elon was so dedicated to making it big that he lived in his office and showered at the local YMCA (Weinberger). Musk then founded X.com which was an online banking website off of the loads of money he received from selling parts of Zip2. X.com later merged with another company to create PayPal, giving Musk tons of money for investing for future companies and ideas. Musk continued to invest on companies which resulted in him gaining more money and increasing his influence he had on the world. He is not going to stop what he is trying to do until he

Companies should offer paternity leave for expectant fathers. By offering paternity leave for fathers-to-be companies allow fathers to be a benefit of paid or unpaid time off work to care for their child, make arrangements for the child’s welfare, and preparation for the adoption of a child. Generally, offering paternity leave for fathers allows them to benefit the birth of a child. Companies that provide the option of paternity leave grant these fathers the privilege of being present for labor, delivery, and any other emergency procedures that may be necessary. Paternity leave provides the father with an advantage to be able to care for their

The article, “Without Taking Away Her Leave”: A Canadian Case Study of Couples Decisions on Father’s Use of Parental Leave” explains, “More than one in four Canadian fathers now takes some paid leave at the birth of a child.” While this certain explanation is shown in a positive perspective, more fathers in the workplace should be taking hefty advantage of paid parental leave particularly to form the bond in the first six weeks. While in countries like Canada in the province of Quebec, paternity leave is more accepted by men than it is in countries like the United States. In the United States it is more likely for a father not to take any time off after his child is born. One might argue that taking too much time off after the birth of a child might take away opportunities in the workplace, but because paternity leave is becoming more accepted, it will be normal for a man to take time off. It is likely that they will have to use vacation time which might leave room for not being able to call off for an emergency. In most cases, taking twelve weeks unpaid could really hurt a family. That is why those first six weeks should be paid for. The idea

Branson, born July 18th, 1950 in London England, started his working at an early age. Due to his dyslexia, school and academia never came easy for Branson. He attended multiple schools in his early teens such as the all-boys Scaitcliffe School, which he almost failed out of, and the Stowe School, a boarding school in Buckinghamshire, England. After struggling at both of these schools, Branson dropped out at the age of 16. After he dropped out, he started his first business, a youth culture magazine called Student. By 1969, Branson, influenced by the British music scene, decided to start a mail order record company to help fund his magazine. By 1972, Branson had enough money to build himself a record studio in London to continue his record business. Branson and co-found Nik Powell named their record business “Virgin” because they were both virgins to the business world.

Despite the advantages of paid parental leave, the United States trails behind other developed countries in guaranteeing these options. In fact, America is currently “one of the only two nations (the other being Papua New Guinea) that do not guarantee paid maternity leave to new mothers” (Baum II and Ruhm 333). Last year, according to the Pew Research Center, only fourteen percent of workers had access to paid family leave (Desilver). Instead of choosing to extend paid leave for their employees, many American businesses opt to offer unpaid family leave that is available to almost ninety

Access to paid leave is often identified as an issue that primarily concerns working mothers, yet paid leave is also critically important for working fathers. In a society that continues to evolve, it is even more imperative to address this unequal access with an increasing number of fathers who are serving as stay at home parents (International Labor Organization, 2014). Legislation that supports fathers having the support they need to prioritize family responsibilities can significantly increase the personal and economic well-being of their growing families (United States Department of Labor, 2015). Despite these advantages, the growing importance of paternal involvement with their newborns is not always supported in today’s society. The economic and social barriers fathers face may hinder them from taking paternity leave altogether, such as inadequate access to paid leave and outdated cultural norms about male breadwinners. According to survey data, most fathers in the United States only take one day of leave time for every month the typical mother takes (Harrington et al., 2014). This means that even in the twenty-first century, it appears to be more widely accepted for mothers to take off time from work to care for their families than fathers. Fewer than half the countries in the world provide men with access to paid leave to care for a new child, while virtually all provide paid maternity leave (ILO, 2014). Paid paternity leave and laws related to promote