“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.”
This quote by Ken Blanchard, one of the renowned American authors, subtly sums up what it takes to be a successful leader in today’s competitive market. The ability of a leader to motivate his employees, colleagues, as well as consumers, stakeholders, etc., and positively influence them sets him/her apart from the rest. An example of such persuasive leadership is portrayed by Katie Lau (Founder of Dr. Katie Clinic). Katie is an aesthetic doctor based in Hong Kong who-with her clinic-is providing top-notch aesthetic medical services to patients.
An Enthralling Journey
Starting her educational journey as a medical student, Katie had never imagined she would start her own business; neither did she aim to specialize in the fields of cosmetic and aesthetic medicine. Her ultimate goal was to help people in need. After three years of basic surgical training following graduation in Queen Mary Hospital-the teaching hospital of the University of Hong Kong-several unexpected opportunities led her into private practice in 2011. She started working both as a general practitioner and aesthetic doctor. However, since aesthetic medicine involves more procedures and allows healing with bare hands like surgery, she decided to fully focus on it after a couple of years.
Sources of Inspiration
Katie regards her parents who shaped her leadership to be her role models. Since her childhood, Katie was taught to be herself and not follow or imitate others deliberately. Moreover, her parents arranged different extracurricular activities in broad-spectrum areas of sports, music, current affairs, etc. to keep her occupied even during the weekends.
Thus, with gradual development and military-like training of stringent time management and coherent problem-solving skills, Katie grew up in self-control. Being law professionals, her parents’ professionalism, work performance, attitude, and communication with colleagues, clients, motivated Katie to be a dedicated executive, and a leader in her pursuit to remunerate society as much as possible.
