I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. When I was seven, I remember sticking a sign on my bedroom window that read, 'Manicures and massage, come on in.' My mother rushed in, saying, 'All these weirdos are knocking on the door.'
I love business and that's why I go on other people's board because it is my hobby. Some people join a tennis club to do things in their spare time. I join boards because that's what I love.
I believe that hardworking people should retain as much of the money as they can in terms of the taxes that they pay. But I think everybody should pay their taxes.
I'm very rational. I tend to let my head rule my heart.
I rarely indulge in sweet things but when I do I do not like to share.
I have met people in the street who say, 'You look like Karren Brady, but she is fat.' But I don't care. I am happy with the way I look; it's not something that drives me mad.
I want people to think about what I have achieved and not what I look like.
I did indeed put on weight after I got married.
On 'The Apprentice,' I'm 100 per cent certain I'm paid the same as Claude Littner. I insisted on equality when I negotiated my contract. I would not have allowed anything else.
I didn't really know what I was going to do with my life. I've taken every opportunity, pushed myself in ways I'm not sure I knew were even possible, I've made the best of my life and career. So yes, I do feel proud of myself.
To any man currently thinking it's not safe to say anything to women these days, allow me to offer you a rule of thumb. If you're in any doubt about something you're going to say to a woman, just ask yourself if you'd say the same thing to a man.
Let's face it, when is it actually ever funny to joke about hitting someone? Never, right? The threat to give someone a slap, no matter how you look at it, is aggressive.
It is critical to create opportunities to identify talented women in business, then support them to develop their confidence to aim for the boardroom.
It really annoys me when magazines put up these 'superwomen' with the perfect blow-dry, the perfect life - but nothing's perfect. People have a whole bunch of problems and it's how many solutions you can find to those problems as to how happy you are.
I look at people like Helen Mirren, Emma Thompson, Goldie Hawn, they're the people I want to be.
The most beautiful women in the world, I find, are those who have inner confidence.
The only thing I wanted when I left school was independence. I had been at boarding school for many years. When you're boarding, nothing is your own and your whole day is scheduled. You're told when to sleep, what to eat and when. You have zero independence.
It's really important that young people realise very rarely do you become an overnight success.
Good managers ensure good outcomes, but great leaders can deliver a vision by getting people to work together.
The worst kind of businesses are ones where there are no expectations set out for employees.
