Peggy Van de Plassche

What makes something valuable?
 Its beauty, its rarity… or the story it tells?

A few years ago, I met artist Abraham Reyes — heir to the world’s largest natural pearl, the Giga Pearl, appraised at $135 million.
But instead of locking it away, he turned his inheritance into art.

He uses real gems and wild pearls to create sculptures that question what value really means — in art, in markets, in culture.

It reminded me of Marcel Duchamp, who once placed a urinal in a museum and called it art, forcing the world to rethink worth and meaning. Abraham is doing something similar — merging gemology and contemporary art to redefine both.

✨ Why it matters:
 His story isn’t just about pearls. It’s about how innovation disrupts tradition — in art as in finance.

🎨 Listen to my latest podcast —
 “Value, Beauty & Rebellion: When Art Holds Its Own Worth”
A reflection on what truly gives things — and ideas — their value.

#Art #Innovation #ValueCreation #Culture #Investing #AbrahamReyes #ContemporaryArt

You can explore Abraham’s Art here: abrahamreyes.art | https://www.instagram.com/abrahamreyesart

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

For years, I was a model student of personal development — from the most structured to the most woo-woo.

Therapy. Energy work. Coaching. Yoga. Breathwork. You name it — I did it.
 And it worked. I’m calmer, more confident, and more grounded because of all that work, not despite it.

But here’s the catch: at some point, all that “growth” starts getting in the way of life itself.

You go from living to self-improving. From “being” to “fixing.”
You start chasing the next workshop instead of applying what you already know.

Before my last trip to the Emirates, I was spending 4.5 hours a week with practitioners (plus my daily routines). That was basically my entertainment.

Then I paused. For real.
 And something shifted — I didn’t regress. I integrated.
I realized I was already good enough.

Like in tennis 🎾 — at some point, you’ve had enough lessons. You can play, have fun, and keep your skills sharp by practicing. But stop playing, and you regress. Keep taking lessons forever, and you never just… play.

So maybe the next phase of your growth isn’t another program, teacher, or retreat.
 Maybe it’s the courage to pause — and just be.

👉 Listen to my new podcast for the full story (yes, including the sweat lodge panic attack and the Jean-Claude Van Damme self-defense class 🙃).

#PersonalGrowth #Leadership #Wellbeing #Mindfulness #Integration #SelfDevelopment #Balance #Transformation

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

💬 What’s the Best Career Advice You’ve Ever Given?

Last week, I was speaking at the Club Canadien de Toronto during the Francophone Summit on Finance and Investment 2025.
The panel was about Power, Leadership, and Investment: Who Shapes the Finance of Tomorrow?

But the moment that stayed with me came from the Q&A.
 A young woman in the audience asked:

My co-panelists gave wonderful, practical answers — build a network, find mentors, invest in yourself.
All true. All helpful.

My answer was different.

I told her the most important investment she’ll ever make isn’t in a fund, a skill, or a connection —
 it’s in her own self-belief.

Because sometimes, the real barrier isn’t a glass ceiling above you — it’s the one you’ve built in your own head.

I’ve seen (and lived) how self-doubt quietly sabotages careers long before bias or circumstance ever could.
 The voice that says “you’re not ready,” “you’ll fail,” “they’ll find out.”
 That’s the one to silence first.

So when people ask me for career advice, I don’t start with strategy.
 I start with psychology.

Because the future of leadership — in finance or anywhere else — belongs to those who learn to trust their own potential before anyone else does.

👉 Listen to my latest podcast for the full story

#Leadership #CareerAdvice #Finance #WomenInFinance #Mindset #SelfBelief #ImposterSyndrome #PensionFunds #Canada #ValueCreation

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

The most underrated form of personal development?
 Reading someone else’s life.

Not the polished business bios that read like PR exercises.
 But the real ones — messy, contradictory, deeply human stories of artists, writers, and athletes who fail, doubt, reinvent, and rise again.

Reading David Bowie makes you question how far you’d go to reinvent yourself.
Jane Birkin teaches you what it takes to reclaim your own narrative.
Didion and Babitz expose the eternal tension between discipline and chaos, ambition and authenticity.

Sometimes I know the subject — Bowie, Birkin.
 Sometimes I don’t — Didion, Babitz, Cohen.
 It doesn’t matter. I always end up learning — about them and about myself.

Because biographies aren’t just stories.
 They’re mirrors.
 They help us see who we are, who we were, and who we might become.

💭 Next time you reach for a self-help book, try a biography instead.
 You might discover yourself in someone else’s life.

👉 Forget Self-Help — Read a Biography Instead

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

When I say invest in yourself, I don’t mean another AI course, eMBA, or leadership retreat in the Rockies.

I mean literally: invest in your appearance, fitness, and energy.

Why? Because ageism is alive and well — for both women and men.
Pretending it doesn’t exist won’t make it go away.

As a (very honest) friend working at a large bank told me:

Scary? Maybe.
 Realistic? Absolutely.

In today’s corporate world, “career longevity” has a very literal dimension:
 🧴 Skincare counts.
 💇‍♀️ Image matters.
 🏋️ Staying fit signals energy, drive, and resilience.

You might think this is superficial — and you’d be right.
 But it’s also real. And ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.

So while you’re upgrading your skills, don’t forget to upgrade yourself.
Because in the modern workplace, the survival of the fittest is not a metaphor.

Listen to my latest podcast for the full take — from ageism to GenAI layoffs and what it really takes to stay in the game 👇

#CareerLongevity #Leadership #Ageism #FutureOfWork #PersonalBrand #ProfessionalGrowth #RealityCheck #ValueCreation

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

I’ve seen it too many times.
 New tech emerges — blockchain, crypto, digital transformation — and companies rush headfirst into POCs, MVPs, and pilots…
…forgetting to ask the most important question:
👉 Why?

AI is no different.

During my month in the Emirates, I attended several AI events and heard it all:
 ✨ AI for Good. AI for the People. AI as an Enabler.
Refreshing, compared to the ego-driven “move fast and break things” we so love in North America.

But I also met the Evangelists — selling AI as the universal solution (preferably using their services).
And the Balanced Evangelists — pragmatic thinkers who remind us that AI without purpose, context, and reasoning is just noise.

AI will change how we work — no doubt.
 But if you don’t know the problem you’re solving, it’s just another hammer in search of a nail.

💡 My take?
 GenAI is a co-worker, not a savior.
 The winners won’t be those who deploy AI the fastest — but those who think the deepest about why they’re deploying it.

Listen to my latest podcast for the full story — from the hype to the reality, and where leaders should really focus 👇

#AI #AgenticAI #Leadership #Innovation #ValueCreation #DigitalTransformation #CriticalThinking #Strategy

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

I spent a month in the UAE.
 And I came back thinking — they’re doing what we in the West keep talking about… but with coherence and conviction.

In the Emirates, economic development isn’t an afterthought — it’s a strategy.

If you want to access sovereign wealth funds, the rule is simple:
 💼 No local office, no money.
Capital comes with purpose. You invest in the country, not just from it.

The same logic applies to government contracts and SOEs.
 Public funds are tied to public benefit — jobs, skills, and local growth.
 Logical, right?

Meanwhile in Canada, we often treat economic development as a “nice to have.”
 That’s real money not circulating in our economy.

In the UAE, initiatives like Emiratization aren’t about exclusion.
They’re about long-term prosperity — training locals, keeping income at home, building resilience.

💡 The takeaway?
 Economic growth isn’t accidental.
 It’s engineered — through intention, consistency, and accountability.

Listen to my latest podcast for what Canada (and the West) could learn from the Emirates’ playbook on capital, growth, and national strategy 👇
 

#EconomicDevelopment #Canada #UAE #Policy #SovereignWealth #Investment #Emiratization #ValueCreation #Leadership

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

In North America, the first question is usually: “What can you do for me?”
In the UAE, it’s more often: “Who are you? What are your values?”

That simple difference reshapes everything—hiring, compensation, execution, even how time itself is perceived.

👉 Relationships come before résumés.
 👉 Compensation is negotiated differently (and turnover is built into the system).
 👉 Time runs on a more elastic clock.
 👉 Local presence and patience aren’t optional—they’re the ticket to credibility.

I’ve pulled my observations together in my latest newsletter: a candid take on why succeeding here requires more than credentials and why complexity isn’t a bug—it’s the feature.

If you’re considering expanding to the region or curious about what it takes to thrive professionally in the UAE, this one’s for you.

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

✨ One week in Dubai and already noticing patterns in how people actually do business here.

Networking feels… different.

• Meetings in days, not months
• Full attention, not 25 min with an Apple Watch buzzing
• Invites with no strings attached
• Expats who get it — building new lives, new careers, new networks
• A buoyant economy where expansion (not survival) drives behavior

Of course, there are still the bullshitters, the bait-and-switchers, and the “investment advisors” who really just want to sell you a villa. But the overall vibe? Generous, open, fun.

And my BS radar has never been sharper.

Oh, and the best networking follow-up so far?
 Meeting a new friend at… the Butterfly Garden 🦋

I unpack all of this (and more) in this week’s pod 👇

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare

💸 In Dubai, inequality isn’t hidden. It’s right there: Lamborghinis next to labor buses. Nobody pretends it’s sad, nobody calls for change. It simply is. The pecking order is clear, unapologetic, and accepted.

😶 In the West, we play a different game. We polish inequality with layers of politeness. We don’t talk about money — it’s “unseemly.” We pretend everyone is equal. And by making inequality an off-limits topic, we protect the status quo. No one complains. No one rocks the boat.

But here’s the thing: when an investment professional tells me they have nothing to show after 20 years, or a corporate lawyer admits they won’t be able to retire — even in Portugal — the polite silence cracks. Reality forces its way in.

So what’s worse?
 👉 A world where inequality is blunt and visible, like in Dubai?
 👉 Or a world where inequality is politely swept under the rug, like in Canada, France, or the US?

Maybe it’s time we stop smiling over structural inequality — and start talking about it.

📩 Full reflections in my new podcast: Peel Back the Veneer

Peggy Van de Plassche is a value creation strategist and senior advisor with over 20 years of experience in private equity, financial services, healthcare, and technology. She works with investment firms, boards, and C-suite leaders to accelerate portfolio company performance, drive operational transformation, and unlock long-term value. Peggy specializes in the execution of complex value creation plans—spanning capital allocation, digital enablement, transaction advisory, and leadership alignment. Her work consistently bridges strategy and implementation, helping investors and operators maximize EBITDA and enterprise value. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, she also brings deep expertise in public-private partnerships and institutional capital deployment—critical levers for competitive advantage in today’s global landscape. Her clients have included BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. Learn more at peggyvandeplassche.com.

#privateequity #privatemarkets #alternativeinvestments #investing #investments #invest #venturecapital #investor #entrepreneur #digitaltransformation #ai #exit #tech #technology #finance #financialservices #healthcare