{"id":664234,"date":"2026-08-30T21:52:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T21:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/664234\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T21:52:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T21:52:05","slug":"richard-branson-once-double-booked-his-own-job-interview-the-candidate-is-now-virgins-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/664234\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Branson once double-booked his own job interview. The candidate is now Virgin’s CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

A job interview with Richard Branson<\/a>, the billionaire founder of the Virgin brand, is likely to be nerve-racking enough on its own.<\/p>\n

But when then-31-year-old lawyer Josh Bayliss arrived at Branson\u2019s London mansion for what he expected to be a fairly standard interview, Branson realized he had another appointment across town\u2014and was already running late. Rather than cancel the interview, Branson invited Bayliss to come along for the ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably on a good day, a 45-minute drive,\u201d Bayliss recently recalled to Fortune. In reality, it turned into a two-and-a-half hour adventure that he took full advantage of.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got stuck in traffic, and that was great for me,\u201d Bayliss said. \u201cI got a chance to really interrogate Richard and find out a lot more about what made him tick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bayliss ended up landing the job of general counsel in 2005\u2014and that long traffic-filled interview marked the beginning of a relationship with Branson that would further shape his career. By 2011, Bayliss was promoted to CEO of Virgin Group<\/a>, overseeing a sprawling portfolio that includes an airline<\/a>, telecommunications giant, gym chain, and commercial space-tourism<\/a> business. This year he also added chair of Virgin Atlantic to his resume.<\/p>\n

Nearly two decades after that first interview, Bayliss, now 53, said what drew him to Branson in the first place remains a defining part of the Virgin Group founder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an energy to Richard and an appetite to learn about what he doesn\u2019t already know, to try what he hasn\u2019t already tried, which I think really does blend very well with my own ceaseless curiosity,\u201d Bayliss said.<\/p>\n

Bayliss went from aspiring scientist to lawyer before setting his sights on the C-suite<\/p>\n

Bayliss was born in Auckland, the capital of New Zealand, to a modest family, with his father playing guitar and a mother working as a hairdresser. Becoming a CEO<\/a> was hardly something he had mapped out for himself growing up.<\/p>\n

In primary school, he always wanted to become a scientist, inspired by the Incredible Hulk\u2019s transformational superpowers. But after taking a few science courses, he realized his interests leaned more toward the humanities<\/a> than STEM.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved history. I did classics. I loved languages. I loved philosophy,\u201d Bayliss said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He went on to study history and Spanish literature as an undergraduate at the University of Auckland, graduating in 1996 before turning to law<\/a>. His first job out of law school was as a judge\u2019s clerk at the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, giving him a front-row seat to consequential decisions\u2014and to people who could disagree fiercely without letting those disagreements become personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was exposed to some of the greatest minds I\u2019ve ever been among, disagreeing profoundly over matters of huge importance for huge numbers of people, but never falling out over that disagreement,\u201d Bayliss said.<\/p>\n

That experience stayed with him as he moved to a law firm in Barcelona and then to London in 1999. But the further Bayliss progressed in his career, the less satisfied he became with advising the people making the big calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be making decisions. I wanted to take responsibility, and I wanted to be accountable for improving things for people in a commercial sense,\u201d he said. He added that the opportunity to work at Virgin\u2014and interview with Branson at age 31\u2014gave him just that: the chance to combine his legal background with a growing role in leadership.<\/p>\n

Gen Z interns \u2018astonish\u2019 Bayliss\u2014and he says those who use AI can \u2018move far more rapidly\u2019 in their careers<\/p>\n

More than two decades into his career at Virgin, Bayliss said the qualities that helped him advance are the same ones he looks for in the next generation of workers<\/a>: curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to challenge conventional thinking.<\/p>\n

Gen Z interns, in particular, astonish him year after year, in part because of their willingness to stand by their values.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so impressed with the caliber of the moral fiber of these young people,\u201d Bayliss said. \u201cI think they bring something to the table which is unbendable, and I think that\u2019s so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

That conviction could prove especially valuable as AI continues to reshape the workplace. Bayliss views the technology as an \u201cenablement tool rather than a replacement tool,\u201d and believes young workers who pair it with strong human qualities can move faster early in their careers.<\/p>\n

Bayliss added: \u201cThose young people coming into the world of work are actually able to move far more rapidly through the early stages of their career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A job interview with Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin brand, is likely to be nerve-racking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[295,79,57559,5500,58670,253669,2788,27009,18,19,17,27011,44318,145373,63603,69365],"class_list":["post-664234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-building-your-career","tag-business","tag-career-advancement","tag-career-advice","tag-career-success","tag-career-tips","tag-careers","tag-chief-executive-officer-ceo","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-view-from-the-c-suite","tag-virgin","tag-virgin-atlantic","tag-virgin-galactic","tag-virgin-group"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117186681012108555","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}