The Privilege and Pressure of Leadership

With over two decades of experience, our columnist, Katie Hughes-Dawkins is a highly respected figure in the aesthetic industry, known for her technical expertise and strategic leadership. From her beginnings as a dental nurse and aesthetic practitioner, running a chain of skin clinics, to becoming a dynamic sales leader, Katie has consistently driven business growth and elevated brand profiles on a global scale. Leveraging her extensive industry knowledge and global connections, she helps brands and clinics achieve remarkable success. A sought-after industry contributor, Katie brings her deep understanding of skin health, clinic operations, and the latest aesthetic industry trends to the forefront.

Leadership is not for the faint-hearted, particularly when you’re guiding a team through pressure, change or growth. Unless you’re managing volunteers in a relatively low-pressure setting, such as planting trees or dog walking, the demands can stretch you and your leadership skills in so many directions that even the most experienced among us can sometimes feel hopeless.

Yet I want to be clear that leadership is a privilege. It is an honour to share the benefit of your experience and help others become leaders themselves, or develop their careers in the direction they want, while growing a business.

People often assume that once you become “the boss”, day-to-day life becomes easier. In two decades of leadership positions, I have always felt responsible for the whole company and how it operates, as well as the team’s goals.

The building we work in, the way we present ourselves, sales, marketing, operations, our products or services and the team all fall within that responsibility. I’m also thinking about whether the cleaner came, whether a regulatory form was completed, which trends are emerging and whether we should be involved, as well as exhibitions and industry events. It’s never-ending.

The pressure is immense, but I’m happy to carry it for the wider rewards. Those rewards aren’t solely mine, of course. Leaving a legacy in an industry I’ve worked in for 26 years and counting is incredibly important to me.

The way we do things in aesthetics matters, given that the industry is only around 30 years old in the UK. I often joke that my career is older than Botox, as I recall it receiving its cosmetic licence around the early 2000s.

What we do now shapes the future of this industry. While medical practitioners are the ones delivering treatments in clinics, it is equally important that industry leaders and brands operate in a way consistent with the standards we hope our industry will one day have. There are unspoken rules and rules we impose on ourselves in the hope that people will one day look upon our industry with the respect it deserves. A commitment to those standards is one of my non-negotiables when hiring.

Stepping into my most recent leadership position has been another learning experience. Two decades in, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought I’d seen it all. I had also grown accustomed to being liked and known as someone who was loved and respected within the industry.

Joining an existing team of professionals, some of whom already knew of me, I was certain it would be reasonably smooth sailing and that, of course, everyone would love me. That had been my experience until then.

What I found was a team with their own experiences and perhaps their own ideas about how things should continue to operate. Persuading adults with their own agendas, wants and needs that their familiar ways of working may no longer be the best approach, and haven’t produced the results, is one of the hardest parts of the job.

You have to become comfortable with not being beloved or everyone’s cup of tea. You have a job to do, a goal to achieve and a responsibility to deliver for the people who resist change as much as for those who get on board.

Sometimes the people you lead can’t see the bigger picture or the vision; sometimes they don’t care to. It’s your job to sell that vision, give them the opportunity and tools to succeed, and guide them in a way that serves both them and the business in the long run.

Change can be uncomfortable. As humans, we often resist it and stay in our comfort zones, but as a leader, you don’t have that luxury. You will be pulled in every direction, and it is down to you to decide which direction to take and for how long.

I’ve always been proud of the fact that I tend to retain my people, but it is equally important to recognise quickly when someone isn’t the right fit. Emma Grede says in her book Start With Yourself that she’s “slow to hire and fast to fire”. When I first read this, it made me uncomfortable, so I sat with it.

Leading people is a huge responsibility. If someone is causing problems within your team, you have to act. The age-old saying about one bad apple still stands: a toxic or negative person can have a profound effect on the rest of your people, and it’s your job to protect them.

Even so, I believe in giving people a chance. Allow them time to recognise the errors in their behaviour and adapt to new ways of working. I lead with kindness first, which sometimes means giving people the benefit of the doubt even when my gut is screaming at me that I know the eventual outcome.

For women in leadership, it is always a fine balance. We aren’t always offered the same courtesy as our male counterparts. Men can be tough, direct and sometimes mediocre leaders while still earning respect. I feel the tide turning as we see and hear more women speaking about the complexities of running businesses and leading teams, many while building families and running households at the same time.

While I don’t have children of my own, those who know me well know I play a very active role in raising my young niece, Paris. I feel a huge responsibility to be a positive role model, both for her and for other women.

I’ve recently interviewed no fewer than 30 people. I’m looking for people uniquely suited to the roles I’m filling, because I’m building what will be the most incredible team this industry has ever seen. I’ve had close to 100 applicants, perhaps more, for the roles I’ve advertised, yet at least 95% of the applications have looked exactly the same.

The generic AI approach to vacancies simply hasn’t worked for candidates. If someone can’t take the time to write me a short personal note, I’m likely to overlook them. This is a shame because AI has become such a big part of our day-to-day lives, yet aesthetics remains a relationship-based industry.

If I could give one piece of advice to someone looking for a new opportunity, it would be to show your personality. The AI response you’re getting is likely to be the same as the next candidate’s, so how will you stand out?

I’m far from anti-AI; I use it all the time. I put articles I’ve written through AI to check spelling and grammar, and ask it for ideas when I’m drawing a blank, but the majority of my communication is in my own words.

You can’t always get hiring right, but my advice would be to choose attitude over skill, depending on the position, of course. In my experience, someone with the right attitude can be trained in almost anything. The wrong attitude can lead you down a long and difficult path that eventually creates further stress and upset within your team.

Be picky, because you know what you’re building. I know I’m building something incredibly exciting to be part of, and I want people who deserve a seat at the table and to be part of that journey.

Building the right team brings enormous joy and satisfaction. One of the things I’m most proud of is that, when I was running clinics, I retained the same team throughout my tenure. Some even followed me into my next businesses.

Leadership is an incredible opportunity to give back and support other people’s dreams while building a business you can be proud of. But let’s not pretend there aren’t times of extreme pressure and loneliness. You come into a position as “the boss” and rarely do people ask, “Are you OK?” It’s usually, “Can I have X, Y, Z?” or a complaint of some sort.

We all know the saying, “leaders eat last”, but at what cost?

I recently took a week off and went on holiday. I was crawling towards it by the time it arrived, but I promised myself that week would be about restoring my body and mind. I couldn’t keep giving without taking time to recover.

I spent the week doing yoga, going to the spa and eating great, nutritious food. I reconnected with myself and with my husband, who is my biggest support and cheerleader, and even read a whole book! When you give so much of yourself to a business and a team, you must take some back for yourself.

There are thousands of books on leadership, each offering its own view of how to get the best out of people or become the best leader. I’d argue that leadership isn’t entirely learned. It is usually an innate calling: the desire to build something you’re passionate about and bring like-minded people with you so you can build it together.

The best leaders haven’t got it all together and don’t have every answer. They build strong teams of professionals who, collectively, have what it takes to create something truly amazing and successful.

True leadership means knowing when to say, “I don’t know that, but let’s work it out.” It means recognising when your team needs support and when to leave them to the task at hand, and trusting the smart, capable people you have hired to do their jobs.

You don’t have to be “nice” all the time. Sometimes you have to have difficult conversations, say no and keep your sights on the bigger picture while being pulled in every direction. But you can do all of that with kindness.

Respect is incredibly important to me. I’ve worked in the same industry for 26 years and have always given others the respect I would expect in return. I’ve built a reputation for being kind, honest and fair, but I also have astronomically high standards and expectations.

As I always say to my team: “Yes, we have big goals. Yes, it’s tough. But we’re going to have a bloody good time achieving it!”