It isn't effective or productive to force your employees to do anything. Choice empowers people and makes for a more content workforce.

Because I don't see Virgin as a company but as a way of life and I fully enjoy it, I don't think I'll ever retire.

When you are ready to make your first hires, look for people who understand your passion, want to add to your ideas and can envision ways to make improvements.

Well, I think that there's a very thin dividing line between success and failure. And I think if you start a business without financial backing, you're likely to go the wrong side of that dividing line.

And ever since then [I] have set up businesses basically out of frustration. I mean, I set up Virgin Atlantic with one second-hand 747 because I hated the experience of flying on other people's airlines. And I thought, you know, I could try to create the kind of airline that I'd like to fly on. And people liked it.

First of all, if you're setting up a new company, you want to try to find a brand that can work on a global basis.

There is no point in going into a business unless you can make a radical difference in other people’s lives.