It's important to separate the decisions he made, versus the decisions his McKinsey & Co Trade "business manager" made. I get the impression from the book that

It's important to separate the decisions he made, versus the decisions his McKinsey & Co Trade "business manager" made. I get the impression from the book that people would call Richard up looking for money, and if it sounded like fun Richard would say "Sure", to which all the other Virgin stake holders say "Are you nuts?". Then Richard moves forward with it one way or another, and its up to the other employees to make it work. That, at least, sounds like the story behind Virgin Atlantic, as well as a few of his big adventure trips.