Smoke pot with your children – Branson tip
LAID-BACK British billionaire Sir Richard Branson says if children are going to smoke dagga, their parents should join them.
The Virgin Group founder had mixed in some unorthodox parenting advice for entrepreneurs about raising their children, along with his more conventional business bromides.
“If they’re going to have a joint, do it with them,” the father of two told the thousands of budding entrepreneurs from a stage in Chicago, US, last week.
“Don’t let them sneak off and do it on their own.”
After a smattering of awkward laughter, Branson felt compelled to add: “I’m on the global drug commission” and that he had been working hard to reinforce the idea that drugs were “a health problem and not a criminal problem”– a message which received a warmer response from his audience.
Though it seemed to catch many in the audience unaware, Branson has made no secret of his occasional dagga use and has been an advocate for decriminalising it.
The eccentric businessman told GQ in 2007 that he had smoked dagga with his son, saying: “I’d rather my son did it in front of me than behind doors.”
Stephen Kelly, the chief executive of conference organisers Sage, had prompted the off-script remarks from Branson by asking how he made sure that his children learnt their values.
Kelly briskly moved the conversation on to safer areas and queued up videos that showed Branson meeting with Nelson Mandela and other statesmen, and Branson’s attempts to conquer commercial space travel.
A well-rehearsed anecdote about how Branson founded Virgin Atlantic Airways by renting a jet after he and his fellow passengers were left stranded overnight in Puerto Rico by American Airlines, allowed the billionaire to point to his rock n roll past.
The day after he had hired the jet, Branson said he phoned Boeing and told the firm he owned a record label that handled artists who included The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols and Phil Collins, and “I’d like to know if you have any second-hand Boeing 747s”.
Pitched another question, how he managed his work-life balance, Branson said he had learnt to delegate at an early age.