Mycoskie looks to Richard Branson and the Virgin brand for inspiration.

Question: What business leaders inspire you?

Blake Mycoskie: For the past five years, I’ve really just been inspired and kind of modeled a lot of the decisions I make off Richard Branson and Virgin.

What I love about what Richard Branson’s done, specifically early in his career, was he took a brand that was counterculture, sarcasm, irreverent and he applied it to all these different industries that really weren’t connected at all. But he gave the same customer this loyalty or this ability to be loyal to a cell phone or an airline or record label. And I think that is really cool. And I think it shows that it is possible for brands to transcend their specific category.

Recorded on: April 28, 2008