RIchard Branson: How to Look Good in a Corporate Photo

1. If I’m going to do a photo, it has to commemorate an ambitious effort—like launching service to Dallas-Ft. Worth, where 90 percent of all domestic flights are served by one legacy airline. Or unveiling a spaceship.

2. Surround yourself with smart, creative people, the kind who ignore laws of gravity and who see your brand as permission to do the unexpected. Let them persuade you to do what they want. Like when Virgin Mobile Canada suspended me 140 feet above Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square in a floating prison cage with a pyro explosion that triggered my escape rope so that I could free Canadians from being locked in with one cell-phone carrier.

3. Put yourself out there for your brand. I’ve been photographed in a bridal gown, a wet suit, an Elvis suit, and in a hot tub with electronic gadgets. I’ve never been good at saying no, especially when it comes to supporting my companies, even if I am risking my life (go online and search: “Richard Branson world record balloon attempts”) or my mystery (try: “Richard Branson Times Square full monty”).

4. Don’t take yourself too seriously. You may have the weight of the free world on your corporate shoulders, but do you really want to be photographed like that? I prefer to be dressed as a maverick in authentic Texas longhorn riders’ leather chaps or coddled by Vegas showgirls. I recently lost a bet to AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes and will have to shave my legs and dress as a flight attendant on a charity flight; some people think I lost on purpose because I like being photographed in drag (hmm, they may be on to me).

5. Share the limelight with friends of the brand. Your airline can’t help but look ravishing if you do a wing walk with Kate Moss or Dita von Teese. Remember, it’s not about you.