How Ten Mentors Shaped My Leadership Journey Without Me Knowing

I have not had one mentor.
I have had ten. Maybe more. People who helped me grow.

Some for years, others in a single sentence.
Some through working alongside them.
Others just because one day they said something that set me straight.

@[urn:li:person:BOav80xf6d|Netty Thines] is one of those.
She was my first boss in Luxembourg.
She hired me. She fired me.
We disagreed. I was twenty. I thought I was right.
She did too, apparently.

I did not make a scene. But I did not understand either.
That came later.
What I see today is a woman who worked seriously. Who believed in this profession.
Not in the glitter, not in the awards. In rigor. In structure.
In the idea that it has to hold.

And without knowing it, she passed that on to me.
This idea that communication either has structure, or it collapses.

After her came @[urn:li:person:hB5fZ9p_zg|Claude. Frisoni],
@[urn:li:person:StnqbeSJgO|Raymond Horper] and Guy De Muyser.
They did not fire me.
They trusted me. They saw me.
They told me: do not forget who you are.
Move forward, but stay upright.
Take your place, but do not play it.
And above all, do the work. Not to look good. To do it right.

I moved forward. I built.
Eventually I started my own agency.
Not to prove anything.
To be in my place. Not at the top. But in the right spot.

And then one day I joined @[urn:li:organization:87197573|Markcom Luxembourg].
Not because it was a strategy.
Because it made sense.
Because that seed planted a little over twenty years earlier had grown.

And then, at my first general assembly, we were talking about renewing the board.
@[urn:li:person:NF-Qw9oN0M|Carole Platz] gave me a nod. The kind that says "go on, I can see you there."
I declined.
We talked about it later.
I told her I had just arrived. That I was not ready.

And then she said:
"True, you just became a member… but to me, it felt like longer."

I have not forgotten that line.
It was not an invitation. It was a projection.

Today, I am there.
On the board.
With Netty. With others.

What I find there is not an atmosphere.
It is continuity.
A place where you can give back.
Not favors. But what was passed on to you.

So why am I at MarkCom?

Because this profession needs structure.
Because the collective is an answer.
Because working in your corner is no longer enough.
Because the image of communications is too often distorted by those who mistreat it.
And because if we say nothing, we let it happen.

But also, and especially, because it serves me.
It keeps me aligned.
It keeps me on course.
It makes me better at my own work.
Not to feel useful.
To feel whole.

This is not volunteering.
This is active loyalty.

And what I am telling you here is just a few of those who inspired me.
There are many others.
They know who they are.