Martha, Baroness Lane-Fox CBE
At twenty-five, Martha Lane-Fox co-founded lastminute.com, a high-profile and pioneering internet-based company that offered late holiday deals online. Her professional life was abruptly halted in 2004 by a serious car accident that left her with life-changing injuries. After two years in hospital, Martha started to rebuild her career, co-founding the karaoke business Lucky Voice and also joining the board of Marks & Spencer.
She was appointed Digital Champion for the UK in 2009, and has since become a widely respected proponent for the responsible use of technology. In 2013 Martha joined the House of Lords, becoming its youngest female member, and was also appointed chancellor of the Open University. In the same year, she was awarded a CBE. As an avid campaigner for human rights and women’s rights, Martha has founded or acted as patron for numerous charities and foundations, both at home and abroad.
Your attitude towards other people is key. Being generous, kind and polite to others, showing compassion and empathy for the other side, will not only help you to feel better as a human being, it will also come back around for you too.
I think optimism is an interesting thing, because as an entrepreneur you want to be optimistic about your ability to get things done, while at the same time not wishing to be unrealistic. I believe that optimism and realism are very important when they work together in tandem.
Hard work is an absolutely vital ingredient for achieving success. I have very strong views about this, because so often we tend to give the impression to others that things will just ‘happen’ in life or that they’re easy. But you always have to work really hard!
Right from the get-go, just read to your children all the time. There’s no question in my mind that this has already made a massive impact on my kids’ language and their curiosity. So just keep reading to them and ask them questions.
Where to buy
Read more from Martha, Baroness Lane-Fox CBE and the other 21 exceptional contributors to this book
A Few Wise Words is available to buy from Amazon, Waterstones, leading on-line booksellers and select bookshops
