Dieuwertje Damen
Dieuwertje Damen is the founder and Managing Director of NEWKINDS. She gets up every morning with the mission of helping ambitious organizations lead the transition toward an impact economy.
As an impact expert and coach, she has experienced firsthand that sustainability is about much more than corporate social responsibility. It is a powerful approach to business innovation for a new economic model. Most of the technologies, methods, and models needed to achieve this already exist. What is missing is behavior: rethinking what growth means, redefining business success, and making the choices that align with those definitions. We can continue measuring and innovating indefinitely, but ultimately, we need to take action. Behavior is the key to building an impact economy.
Dieuwertje stands for systemic change. Her favorite programs combine strategic development with building a culture of impact, ensuring that employees and other stakeholders are genuinely engaged and that sustainability is more than just a paper commitment. Through real-world examples and practical stories, she demonstrates how to integrate both structure and culture to achieve a successful sustainable transition.
This approach resonates with a wide range of organizations. She has worked on sustainability goals for companies including T-Mobile, Albert Heijn, Bol, Dille & Kamille, Univé, Dela, Pathé, HEMA, and Heineken. These organizations particularly value Dieuwertje’s ability to make sustainability and impact tangible, practical, and enjoyable.
As a speaker, Dieuwertje provides audiences with practical tools and insights on how to start implementing sustainability initiatives within their organizations today. She translates large and often abstract topics—such as circular supply chains and living wages—into practical programs and actions that organizations can immediately put into practice.
Her areas of expertise include sustainability strategy and coaching, behavior change, circularity, B Corp, Corporate Responsibility, sustainability, innovation, impact branding, and social entrepreneurship.
Sustainability and Behavior Change
An impact economy—one centered on circularity, inclusivity, and green growth—does not require more reports, increasingly detailed data, or better models. We already have plenty of those. What it requires is people who are willing to act differently. Behavior change is therefore not a soft skill on the sidelines; it is at the core of every successful sustainable transition. It starts with leaders who build an internal culture where employees understand why change is necessary and feel ownership of that change. It also requires communication that positions sustainability as the logical direction for a healthy, future-proof business.
An impact economy is not an idealistic vision of the future—it is a business necessity. Companies that contribute to this kind of systemic change help ensure that sufficient resources remain available, biodiversity is preserved, inequality is reduced, and healthy markets continue to exist for their products and services. Organizations that understand this redefine what growth and success mean. No longer measured solely by revenue and profit margins, but also by their contribution to a system capable of sustaining itself. This requires a different mindset and a different narrative—both internally and externally. And because the world around them is constantly evolving, companies must continue to reinvent themselves from a sustainability perspective in order to remain relevant. Those who can bring their people along on that journey turn strategy into action.