Great article by angel Marty Zwilling: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-ways-successful-entrepreneurs-beat-the-odds-2012-4

This, of course, is my favorite:

"Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality. That means you must first find optimism in yourself. Then it extends to the hiring process. Herb Kelleher, while CEO of fledgling Southwest Airlines, said he only wanted people with positive attitudes. He also famously said," We don't do strategic planning. It's a waste of time."

Read more.

I enjoyed:

Never give up – there’s always another move. Rather than expecting things to go right, entrepreneurs have to assume things will go wrong, and solutions are elusive. Colonel Sanders started at a late age to build his chicken recipe into KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). It took two years of persistence to get the money. The rest is history.

Has anyone read the book mentioned in the post?

http://www.amazon.com/Leading-The-Edge-Extraordinary-Shackletons/dp/0814431941

It took two years to get the money despite having a great chicken recipe?! Oh man.

No, I hadn't heard of the book mentioned in the post.

Hiring people based on *nothing* other than positive attitudes can actually work.

Is there a good way to tell in an interview if someone is faking a positive attitude?

Or does that not matter?

Faking a positive attitude is very common and I think it does matter.

Here are some things that can help you during the interview:

Subtly referencing morality makes people less likely to lie.

Asking unexpected questions trips up liars.

Here are the body language cues that signal good qualities in job applicants.

Research based methods for selecting the best employees are here and here.

In particular, watch out for narcissists. They excel at interviews but make bad employees.