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volumes of painstaking research. I would love to be able to tell you that every ace I've played has turned out to be a Virgin Blue or a Virgin Mobile. But I can't – which is why I make my senior colleagues at Virgin very, very nervous!

Should we decide to go ahead with you, we sign up as branded venture capitalists (occasionally, as unbranded investors), take a stake in the company, and then look for a return on that investment after about two to five years.

And that, the cynics will say, is that. Of course, businesses also have a duty of care for the health and well-being of their people (and you will hear what we have done in South Africa for our staff with HIV/Aids). Beyond that, though, business is 'just business': a scramble for profit. Right?

Well, that might describe crime; it certainly doesn't describe business.

Ethics aren't just important in business. They are the whole point of business . We're in business to make things. And when you decide what to make, that, right there, is an ethical decision.

The more successful you get, the bigger and harder the ethical questions become. I spent the first half of my career creating businesses that we could be proud of, that paid the bills and ensured that the Virgin Group was strong and survived. It has been our aim to establish Virgin as the 'Most Respected Brand in the World'. It has to be one that is trusted in each and every marketplace. I think once the Virgin Galactic space programme starts, we have a chance of being the most respected brand in space too!

On the back of that work, I've built the second half of my career, creating what I call 'war rooms', to tackle environmental problems and disease, bringing together global leaders to form the Elders – compassionate people who wield their huge influence for the good of humanity. The entrepreneurial skills we use to get these projects up and running are the same ones we used to create Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic. Why would they be any different? Business is about getting things done. No, scratch that: business is about getting better things done (whilst building profits) and setting up a not-for-profit 'social' business is not really any different to setting up a commercial business.

Make no mistake: being better is hard to do, and only gets harder the bigger you get. If you've got a brand with 300 companies, you've got to be diligent and make sure that nobody makes a mistake that damages the business's reputation. That means no bribes, no backhanders and no hidden payments to oil the wheels of commerce. It means treating people fairly and equitably.

Now the stakes are even higher. The threat of climate change is the biggest challenge we face as a planet. Virgin is, among many other things, a transportation group. A rail travel company. An air travel company. With a space tourist start-up. So we're making things worse – right?

Well. We cannot unmake air travel – or space travel for that matter. No one in business can unmake anything, any more than a band can unmake a song. Can you unmake your hangover? Your indigestion? Your children? Your last week's work? No. Welcome, then, to the first law of entrepreneurial business: there is no reverse gear on this thing.

Virgin is dedicated to developing new renewable fuels and energy sources and greener technologies in rail, air and space to cut all our carbon footprints. It is responding to the current crisis decisively, the only way a business can: by making things. Virgin is trying to do a credible job for the environment. By making better things, it's making things better – and in this book, I hope to show you how.

I've enjoyed an incredible life – and I hope there is much more to come. I'm planning to work till I drop and I'll continue to challenge myself as long as I enjoy good health and still have my marbles. And I hope that the fortune that I have been granted can bring enormous opportunities to other people and make a real difference.

I hope