Valuing the Human Factor into Corporate Success

As CEO of Europe’s largest industrial online auctioneer, Ghislaine Duijmelings’ focus on valuing the authenticity of its people has become a key component of the company’s success.

At Troostwijk Auctions & Valuations, she emphasizes the value in people across a workforce spanning 20 countries. Her colleagues say her emphasis on the human factor is a direct contributor to the company’s success.

To underscore her commitment to authenticity and diversity, one of the first things Duijmelings did upon becoming CEO was sign the Dutch charter for Talent at the Top. The business code inspires women to build careers, and helps people from every background to reach their potential.

“The most important quality a woman leader should have is self-reflection and the ability to be authentic,” Duijmelings said. “You have to believe in yourself.” She strives for personal development of herself, her colleagues, and her employees. Her colleagues say she’s focused on autonomy, diversity, responsibility, and freedom. They further say she helps people make the best use of their potential and is instrumental in helping them discover capabilities they often do not see themselves.

Before joining the auction house, Duijmelings was CEO of European business supplies reseller Manutan Benelux in the Netherlands, where she spearheaded a corporate transformation. She introduced a complete new business vision with key elements focusing on people as opposed to products that included sincerity and personal relationships. It resulted in a new brand alongside a communication campaign for changing internal attitudes of brand perception. Employees joined her in building an open minded, inspiring work ethic.

Today, she’s leading the same sort of branding with the auction house. In defining the corporate brand identity, she’s building the passion of the employee’s reasons for working there into the backbone of a Troostwijk internal and external communication campaign. It’s generating a commitment to corporate pride and demonstrating the human factor is a decisive element in the company’s success. “It is about value, and value is all about people,” she said.