Ideally, since 80 percent of your life is spent working, you should start your business around something that is a passion of yours

We [Virgin Group] have been successful not by wasting time scrutinising our competitors but by looking at ourselves from the point of view of our customers do and seeking feedback through listening.

Please be polite. Nothing in life should erode the habit of saying thank you to people or praising them.

If something can't be explained on the back of an envelope, it's rubbish.

It is important to remember that life is not a dress rehearsal and that none of us should waste our time on doing things that don’t spark fires within us. My golden rule for business and life is: We should all enjoy what we do and do what we enjoy.

Don't think about making money, think about making a difference, spot where others are doing it badly and do it better

Whether we're fighting climate change or going to space, everything is moved forward by computers, and we don't have enough people who can code. Teaching young people to code early on can help build skills and confidence and energize the classroom with learning-by-doing opportunities. I learned how to fly a hot air balloon when I was 30,000 feet up and my life was in the balance: you can learn skills at any age but why wait when we can teach everyone to code now!