This is the first topic in our Speer IT ‘leadership series’. In this series, we speak to leaders whose passion and professionalism contribute to successful, sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship. Kicking off the series is Marijke Kasius, CEO of PQR in Utrecht, who puts her heart and soul into making PQR successful in more ways than one.
Who is Marijke and what drives you?
“I am 37 and have completed a series of academic studies: Communication Science, Business Administration and an MBA. I have spent the past ten years working energetically in various management roles within the IT industry. IT is a lot of fun, with that bit of binary – it either works or it doesn’t – it’s empowering, fast and dynamic. Just to name a few keywords.
But what’s really important to me is doing things with passion. What has always played a part throughout my career is that when I create something or build something, I want it to work not only today but also in the long term, and without wasting valuable energy on manual management or adjusting and monitoring processes. I want to take innovative steps for our customers together with colleagues. And above all, I want to keep talking about the things that matter and where we can support them with what they need in the various stages of their growth.
For me, success is not just growth, but is expressed in many more aspects. Being proud of what we achieve together, the commitment of our employees, the company culture and doing all this in the most socially responsible way possible.”
To make that possible with the frenetic pace of the day-to-day,, it is necessary to have a culture focused on working together to deliver quality, Kasius believes. As she very decidedly puts it, “Our corporate culture at PQR plays a very important role in this. In order to continuously improve, we must all have a passion for what we want to achieve and also understand why we do it. That includes calling each other to account for things that could be improved and then working together to achieve it. In addition to this culture, we also have to comply with the established processes and structures. That’s where certifications like ISO help. ISO is not just a paper exercise, but if you embed it properly within your organization, a lot can be achieved through awareness.”
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