Business Person of the year award; Former cardiologist applies the thoroughness he learnt conducting medical research to reviving the family business
BUSINESS PERSON OF the Year Lo Ka-shui, chairman of Langham Hotels International (LHI), has a simple philosophy for doing business: work hard and try your best.
'If you focus on these two principles, it is often pleasantly surprising how much can be achieved,' said Dr Lo, who graduated from Cornell University in 1974 as a medical doctor and conducted research in nuclear cardiology at the University of Michigan Hospital before returning to Hong Kong to join the family business in the early 1980s.
When it comes to management style, Dr Lo is a staunch believer in open communication as the key to a strong corporate framework in which everyone is dedicated to the overall excellence of a business.
At Langham Hotels International, the operating and asset management arm of Great Eagle Holdings, bureaucracy is kept to a minimum and politics avoided.
'I am convinced that this is one of the reasons we find it easy to attract the right people to want to work for the company,' Dr Lo said.
He starts each day early, with nine holes of golf and an hour of swimming. He believes this daily routine helps him work efficiently and effectively.
