Celebrity

Justin Bieber's Manager Scooter Braun: Justin Is Ready to Step Up and Be a Man

"I'm not interested in the mistakes that people make," said Braun. "I'm interested in how they react to them."

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Published on February 11, 2015 06:30 PM

Justin Bieber has been no stranger to controversy over the years – and his manager, Scooter Braun, has been along for the ride the whole way.

“Things get overblown, but sometimes he makes mistakes [that I can’t defend,]” Braun recently told Complex, referencing his client’s bad-boy (and occasionally illegal) behavior. “Sometimes it’s frustrating because you think, ‘I could’ve avoided that’ or ‘I could’ve helped you get through that.’ ”

But it seems that Bieber, 20, has recently turned over a new leaf.

After an apologetic appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last month, the singer posted a video on his Facebook page saying he wants to be “kind and loving and gentle and soft” and move on from his mistakes in recent years.

“As he becomes more and more of a man each day, the challenge for him is learning who he is,” said Braun, who also manages Ariana Grande. “He’s in such an incredible place right now, and he’s excited to share where he is.”

“It will shock some people and make others really happy. He’s ready to step up and be the man people want him to be, and he got there on his own time, like all of us did,” he also said.

And Braun – who discovered Bieber on YouTube in 2007 – is not the only one remarking on Bieber’s attitude change.

Bieber has had delays in completing anger management classes and community service – which were court-mandated after he plead no contest to misdemeanor vandalism charges for throwing eggs at his neighbors home last year.

Yet the probation officer assigned to his case has remarked that the singer “has displayed a cooperative attitude and has expressed sincere desire to be more diligent” in fulfilling the terms of his probation, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

“I’m not interested in the mistakes that people make. I’m interested in how they react to them. That’s what defines us as adults,” Braun also said in the article. “Being young, like Ariana and Justin are, they will have opportunities to fall, and they will be defined by how they rise.”