Look for the best in people

If I ever said anything ill about somebody as a child, my parents would send me to the mirror and make me stand in front of it for 10 minutes, just to make me realize how badly it reflected on myself. As a leader and a person, looking for the best in people is completely and utterly the right way to lead your life. If somebody steals from the company or something, we’ll always give them the benefit of the doubt, and by and large, by giving them a second chance, they become the best performers in the company. We’ve taken on a couple of hundred people straight from prison to work for the companies and not one of them have reoffended. They’ve been fantastic employees. So I suspect that was the best bit of advice.

--Richard Branson