💸How to Unlock Growth, Profitability, and Resilience Without a Single Acquisition

In finance, we’re wired to look outward—chasing the next deal, the next merger, the next growth story. But what if the biggest opportunity isn’t “out there”? What if it’s sitting quietly inside your business—or your client’s—waiting to be activated?

In a recent talk with financial services professionals, I challenged that M&A reflex—and offered a smarter, more strategic approach: adopt a private equity (PE) mindset to drive real, sustainable value from within.

This isn’t about financial engineering. This is about operational discipline, strategic clarity, and cultural alignment—the levers top-tier PE firms pull every day to create enterprise value. The best part? You can use these tools without a deal, a board shakeup, or a capital injection.

Let’s dig in.

💡 Why Internal Value Creation Beats M&A (Most of the Time)

70–90% of M&A deals fail to create value. Many destroy it.

So why are we still acting like growth is something you buy?

External growth is expensive, risky, and hard to control. Internal value creation? It’s faster, more capital-efficient, and often overlooked.

Whether you're running a company or advising one, now is the time to recession-proof by optimizing what you already own. The smartest businesses today are shifting from “buy” to “build.”

It’s time to shift focus—from growth at all costs to value on purpose.

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🔍 The Value Creation Playbook: A Strategic Framework in 3 Pillars

Forget the old-school play of slashing costs and piling on debt. This framework is about increasing the intrinsic value of your business—just like top-tier PE firms do with their portfolio companies.

1. Strategic Clarity

The biggest unlock for value is focus.
Know your core. Double down on what works. Exit the distractions.

➡ Identify what truly drives value in your industry—recurring revenue? IP? Customer retention?
➡ Get crystal clear on product profitability, customer segmentation, and complexity costs.
➡ Align your resources accordingly.

✅ Takeaway: Value starts with knowing what truly drives it. Align capital and effort there.

🧠 Pro tip: Strategy is only powerful when it's specific. A clear 80/20 view will do more than any rebrand or new hire.

2. Operational Excellence

This is not about slashing costs. It’s about doing more with what you already have.

➡ Eliminate waste (process bloat, excess inventory, underutilized systems)
➡ Invest in automation, digitization, and lean operations
➡ Leverage AI where it actually matters (not just for PR)

✅ Takeaway: You can’t cut your way to greatness, but you can fund growth by plugging the leaks.

🧠 Pro tip: Value creation doesn’t need to be revolutionary. It needs to be deliberate.

3. Cultural Alignment

Culture is not a “soft” topic. It’s a hard driver of execution.

➡ Are your people clear on priorities?
➡ Are they rewarded for outcomes?
➡ Are they continuously improving?

If the answer is no, no amount of strategy will save you. You don’t just need the right roadmap. You need the right drivers.

✅ Takeaway: Strategy sets the direction. Culture determines whether you get there—or stall out halfway.

🧠 Pro tip: Embed accountability at every level. Align incentives with value creation, not just activity. If no one owns it, it doesn’t get done.

🧰 Think Like PE—Without Selling to PE

Private equity isn’t just about capital. It’s about discipline.

Imagine bringing PE tools—100-day plans, KPI dashboards, pricing strategy—to your business or client portfolio. No deal required. Just the mindset and the method.

You don’t need to sell your company or take an investor to operate like a world-class firm.

This is what top PE firms bring to the table post-deal. But why wait? Use the playbook now—without giving up equity.

📈 In This Market, Internal Value Creation Isn’t a Nice-to-Have. It’s Survival.

With macro headwinds mounting—higher rates, inflation, geopolitical instability—the margin for error is thin. Businesses need to move now to become more resilient, more profitable, and more focused.

So I’ll leave you with one question:

💬 What value are you leaving on the table today?
Because that’s where your next 20% upside lies.

If you’re looking for an advisor, speaker, or board member who can bring a practical value creation lens to your company or clients—let’s talk. You can connect with me directly or reach out through my speaker agent, Shari Storm.

Let’s build value on purpose.

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Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.

🧠 Founders, Play Your Own Game

Hi. Hello. Hello. 👋

Today’s guest is a dear friend, a repeat podcast guest, and someone I respect enormously for his deep thinking and straight talk: Brice Scheschuk.

If you know Brice, you already know he’s built, scaled, exited, and reinvested with wisdom. If you don’t, here’s the gist: he’s an operator turned investor with a rare lens—130 direct startup investments, 50+ VC fund LP positions, and most importantly, no one to please but the truth.

We ran into each other recently over drinks, and Brice shared his latest keynote: "Founders, Play Your Own Game."
It’s part tough love, part strategic blueprint. And it resonated with me on every level. You can find the link to his presentation here.

Here’s what we explored—and why every founder, funder, and advisor in the innovation ecosystem should read this.

🚨 The Most Consequential—and Irreversible—Decision a Founder Makes

Brice calls it out plainly: raising capital is not just a milestone—it’s a turning point.

Once you take money, especially VC money, you commit to a set of expectations that can change your culture, control, governance, and trajectory. The math changes. The growth expectations accelerate. The room for error shrinks.

My take: “It’s like a favor with the mafia. Once you’ve shaken that hand, you’re in the game.” ;-)

His core argument? Most founders don’t understand the rules of the game they’re entering. And worse, the ecosystem’s conventional wisdom makes it sound like VC is the only game in town.

📉 The VC Narrative: High Valuation, High Velocity… High Risk

Brice breaks down the past decade of venture into three chapters:

• 2016–2019: Risk-on boom and valuation creep

• 2020–2021: Pandemic stimulus, zero rates, digital hype—and a bubble that rivals Dotcom 1.0

• 2022–today: Reality check, capital contraction, and now… the AI frenzy

Most companies that raised big during the hype years are now struggling, gone, or playing catch-up. The capital created a treadmill they weren’t ready to run.

“99.9% of the oxygen in the ecosystem is about why to raise VC. But 99.9% of companies shouldn’t raise it.”

Oof. Let that sink in.

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🧭 Raising Capital (or Not) Is a Strategic Identity Question

So how do you know if raising capital is right for you?

Brice’s checklist is as nuanced as it is practical:

✅ Do you deeply understand your market, product, customer, and go-to-market math?
✅ Are you building something truly venture-scale—or just using the wrong financing for your actual growth model?
✅ Are you ready to lose some control to gain some capital?
✅ And most importantly: Who are you building for—and what kind of entrepreneur do you want to be?

He uses Shopify’s Tobi Lütke as a model: six years of patient exploration, only $1M raised, and a culture defined before VC ever entered the picture.

Contrast that with the standard: Demo Day, deck, $3M on $30M valuation, little customer insight, and a power-law investor expecting a billion-dollar exit. That’s a mismatch—and a slow-motion car crash.

🧠 Invert, Always Invert: The Power of Counter-Narratives

Brice is a fan of Charlie Munger, and his advice follows Munger’s “inversion” principle: figure out where failure lives and avoid it.

That means:

• Model your business as if you had to bootstrap it.

• Build in plateaus. Assume the hype fades.

• Explore non-dilutive capital: consulting, grants, debt (when rational).

• Cut the clutter. Funded startups often spend because they have to, not because it makes sense.

In short: raise less, learn more, grow cleaner.

🧘‍♂️ Mindset Wins: Entrepreneurial Resilience Isn’t Optional

Brice also teaches a workshop on entrepreneurial resilience, rooted in 100+ expert interviews and years of observing founders under pressure. He breaks resilience down into:

• Personal: self-awareness, stress recovery, habits

• Team: decision hygiene, communication, cognitive load

• Organizational: governance, culture, structure that supports—not drains

“The 81st hour of the week might be better spent outside your business. It could save your next 80.”

This isn’t fluff. It’s a corrective to hustle culture, which has done real psychological and financial damage to founders.

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🔁 Conventional Wisdom? Strike It Out.

Brice’s final mic drop?

He wears a T-shirt that says:
“Conventional Wisdom” (with a red strike-through).

Everything you’ve been told—do the accelerator, avoid services revenue, raise fast and big—deserves a second look. The better path? One that fits your business, your goals, and your life.

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🧩 Takeaways for Founders (and Funders)

1. VC is a tool, not a destiny. Use it if and when it fits. Not before.

2. Founders must own their financing strategy. Don’t abdicate to what’s fashionable.

3. Building lean is not a bug—it’s a Canadian superpower.

4. Control is underrated. Dilution is forever.

5. The right capital, at the right time, for the right reasons. That’s the game.

And that’s the message we need to amplify across the Canadian tech ecosystem.

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Thanks again to Brice Scheschuk for bringing such clarity, candor, and courage to this conversation.

🎤 We'll definitely have him back in the fall—for a deep dive into resilience and the founder psyche.

Until then: Play your own game.

Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.

💸Value Creation: A Personal Playbook from the Past 25 Years

In the past 25 years, private equity has approached value creation in a more and more operational way (at least among the top players). It evolved from “put a shitload of debt on this business and cut costs drastically” to building teams of operational partners (or portfolio managers, or value creation experts—depending on the lingo of the moment).

There’s still a long way to go. The ratio of three investors for every one value creation expert—and compensation structures that sit on a different grid—make it far from ideal to fully support a real value creation agenda.

And let’s be clear: this evolution wasn’t driven by a sudden desire to do better by businesses. The shift was forced by economics. Near-zero interest rates are gone. The easy money that fuelled mega-funds, sky-high valuations, and financial engineering has vanished. Volatility is back. Trade tensions and tariffs are rising. Growth is slowing. And the cracks are showing.

The challenge isn’t that private equity no longer works.
It’s that the rules have changed—and most players haven’t.

Exits are harder. Continuation funds—once frowned upon—are now necessary lifelines, though not without scrutiny. LPs are asking tougher questions as they wait longer for distributions. And in this environment, value creation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s survival.

And not just cost-cutting or “synergy capture.” We’re talking about real, operational value creation:

• Launching new revenue streams

• Serving customers in smarter, more digital ways

• Using AI (yes, actual tools available today—not R&D dreams) to boost precision, decision speed, and outcomes

• Embedding technology at the core of transformation, not the periphery

Too many portcos still run like it’s 2005. But PE firms that embed digital strategy and operational excellence at the center of their playbook will be the ones who deliver returns—and earn the right to raise again.

Private equity isn’t dead.
But the multiple expansion party is over.

It’s time to get back to building businesses. Strategically. Intelligently. Creatively.

Some top-notch funds were already doing this 20 years ago. Some are discovering it the hard way now. Yes, PE is in trouble—and same old, same old won’t cut it.

I’ve been in value creation—or transformation/innovation, depending on the buzzword of the decade—for pretty much my entire career. I’ve always taken pride and pleasure in maximizing the value of an asset. Over the past 25 years, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. What follows are some of those experiences—and the best practices I’ve carried with me, relevant both inside and outside of PE.

🍪United Biscuits (France): My First Foray into PE Value Creation

Right out of business school in the early 2000s, I worked in finance at United Biscuits, a snack manufacturer in France owned by Blackstone and PAI Partners. This was my first exposure to PE—via a portfolio company—and I couldn’t help but admire the discipline: going through absolutely every line of the P&L (and balance sheet) and linking it to a value creation initiative.

And I say value creation—not just cost cutting. Yes, we cut costs. But a lot of those savings were directly reinvested in the business.

We improved packaging—not just by using cheaper material, but by making it trendier and more fun. We automated and expanded production lines and increased our global footprint (that’s when I first heard of Costco:)). We upgraded the ERP and brought technology to the shop floor.

I was responsible for tracking and reporting the progress of dozens of these projects to management—meaning I had to understand each one in detail. This was my first real fire test in operational value creation. That experience sharpened my interest in the space and gave me firsthand exposure to what the best PE firms can bring to their assets.

And it challenged the lazy stereotype that PE is only about debt loading, pension raids, and layoffs. What I saw was a thoughtful, highly structured effort to grow value—with strategic reinvestment, clear governance, and disciplined execution.

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💻CGI (Canada): Bringing PE Thinking In-House

After crossing the Atlantic, I joined CGI. Not a PE firm—but an organization (and management team) that deeply understood how to grow enterprise value.

This was my first foray into tech. Around 2006, CGI positioned itself as a service company (a body shop) despite owning a wide suite of software solutions—used everywhere from defense to U.S. federal government, to major North American financial institutions.

The then new CEO, Mike Roach, saw what others didn’t: a gold mine of undervalued software assets, and a stock price that didn’t reflect their potential.

I was brought in as part of a SWAT team to rethink the software strategy: we restructured delivery models to grow recurring revenue (and thus attract higher multiples), automated and offshored low-value activities, and made tough calls on where to double down in product investment and where to sunset.

This approach worked. The company created long-term value. The stock climbed. And yes, my stock options benefited too. But what stayed with me was how powerful this combination of strategic independence and operational discipline could be.

But more importantly, CGI showed that this kind of value creation doesn’t require external consultants. We didn’t outsource the brainwork. We did it all in-house: no knowledge leakage, no future competitors trained on our dime, and no seven-figure consultant invoices.

One of CGI’s great strengths was its ability to apply PE-like portfolio logic within a corporate structure. It looked at each of its business lines not as cogs, but as standalone value drivers—with their own metrics, leadership, and performance levers. Head office didn’t command; it enabled.

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🏢Financial Institutions: The Missed Opportunity

Contrast that with what I later observed in financial institutions. The idea of managing businesses as independent value drivers just isn’t how banks or insurers typically operate. It’s either too macro or too micro.

Annual strategy reviews and tech capital allocations happen by business unit and roll up to a company-wide view—but the BUs are so large and fragmented that it becomes just an amalgamation of micro data points.

The result? A mountain of information, lots of reporting, massive resource allocation for processes that don’t really tie to value creation.. It becomes business-as-usual with incremental improvements—at best.

There’s also a pattern: big-bang transformation plans led by consultants: “Keep only six levels of hierarchy—save costs by firing the middle management (how useless!)” Or massive tech overhauls that fail quietly when the system glitches and everyone reverts to Excel. Or micro-level cost-efficiency efforts.

What I rarely see is a value creation approach starting from this simple but powerful question: What are the metrics that drive enterprise value in this business? Even if it’s not a standalone company, the question still applies. Let’s take the asset management groups in large banks. What if they were spun off tomorrow? How would they be valued? Then—and only then—should we look at the levers of value creation with that end state in mind. Versus macro or micro entry points.

CGI was good at this. They gave business lines autonomy—but with discipline, guidance, and friction. It creates healthy tension and accountability—traits that don’t always align with FI culture. But if institutions want real value creation, that’s the price.

🔭A Broader View: What I’ve Seen in Other Industries

After working across multiple industries and with companies of all sizes, I’ve developed several go-to litmus tests and because I’ve done a lot of digital transformation work, my eye tends to go there—especially since it’s often where the most value is hiding.

• Are the founders highly technical and involved in strategy? Usually means too much capital in product, not enough in commercialization.

• Is the CTO homegrown? If yes, digital transformation opportunities usually abound—new offerings, efficiency plays, customer experience, AI agents.

• Where is the company located? U.S. and Israeli firms tend to be strong in commercialization. Elsewhere, often a weak spot.

• What’s the cap table? Bootstrapped companies tend to be capital efficient. Those with large VC rounds often are not.

• Where are they in the lifecycle? Series F and stable businesses both have transformation potential—but of very different kinds. Digital transformation is often the priority for mature companies.

💰Where Real Value Creation Happens

Ultimately, value creation starts with the exit in mind—and a clear grasp of what multiples are used in that industry.

The most effective value creation experts combine horizontal and vertical expertise. For example, take healthcare or financial services and layer in digital transformation or sales and marketing reinvention.

It’s not enough to be a subject matter expert. You need someone who’s seen playbooks across industries and knows how to adapt them—not just repeat them.

Value creation is not about theory. It’s about connecting the dots between real-world outcomes. And today, digital transformation is often the most powerful connector.

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Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.

💪 Elbows Up: Why Repealing Anti-Circumvention Laws Is a Smart, Strategic Move for Canada

I recently read a fascinating article in the Financial Times—The digital countermove to Trump tariffs—and while it framed the issue as a geopolitical trade tactic, it sparked a deeper thought: repealing anti-circumvention laws may be one of the most underrated economic levers Canada can pull.

In the face of escalating tariffs, trade weaponization, and U.S.-centric tech monopolies, it’s time for Canada to put its elbows up—not with more tariffs, but with smarter regulation.

Specifically: repealing anti-circumvention laws.

🔐 What Are Anti-Circumvention Laws?

Anti-circumvention laws make it illegal to bypass digital locks—also known as Digital Rights Management (DRM)—even when a consumer has legally purchased the product. These laws apply to devices and software ranging from smartphones and tractors to e-books, printers, and household appliances.

Here’s what that means in practice:

• You can’t legally unlock your phone to use it with another carrier.

• You can’t use third-party software or parts to repair your own equipment.

• You can’t develop tools or products that integrate with locked systems—no matter how legitimate the purpose.

These laws were introduced in the U.S. under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) in 1998. The DMCA was designed to prevent piracy in the early internet era—but it also introduced sweeping restrictions that favored copyright holders over users.

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🌍 How Did These Laws Come to Canada?

Countries like Canada adopted these laws largely to comply with U.S.-led trade agreements—most notably the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), which replaced NAFTA in 2020.

To avoid trade barriers and ensure access to the U.S. market, Canada agreed to adopt DMCA-style provisions, including the protection of digital locks—even if those locks restrict fair use, repair, or innovation.

In doing so, Canada handed over an enormous amount of economic and technological control:

• Our consumers became dependent on U.S. tech ecosystems.

• Our innovators were legally restricted from building around those ecosystems.

• Our digital sovereignty eroded—not through data theft or hacking, but through copyright law.

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💸 The Real Cost: Underestimated, But Enormous

While it’s difficult to quantify precisely, the financial implications of these laws are far-reaching—and likely underestimated:

• Monopoly Pricing & Lock-In
  Anti-circumvention rules help big tech players lock consumers into proprietary systems. This business model protects billions in revenue annually for U.S. firms. Companies like Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft generated over $2 trillion in global revenues in 2023 alone, with a substantial portion linked to locked ecosystems and restricted third-party access.

• Suppressed Innovation
  Canadian startups, researchers, and repair shops are legally blocked from improving, modifying, or even accessing many systems. The result? Lost opportunities for homegrown IP, stalled competition, and barriers to commercialization in fast-growing tech sectors.

• Repair and Sustainability Losses
  The global repair economy exceeds $100 billion a year, and anti-circumvention laws effectively bar Canadians from fully participating. Consumers are forced to replace rather than repair, pushing unnecessary spending toward original manufacturers and away from local businesses. It’s a tax on functionality—and it’s bad for the environment, too.

• Strategic Dependence
  These laws entrench Canada’s reliance on U.S. tech platforms and digital infrastructure. The hidden cost? Diminished bargaining power in digital trade, weaker domestic alternatives, and a system that exports not just money—but influence.

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🧰 If You’ve Ever Tried to Fix Your AirPods Max…

Anyone who’s ever attempted to repair their Apple AirPods Max, washing machine, or car infotainment system knows exactly what this is about.

And don’t even get me started on planned obsolescence—that delightful design feature where your device mysteriously dies the week after your warranty expires.

The system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed—and consumers, innovators, and the planet are paying the price.

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💪Elbows Up: A Canadian Way to Push Back

This isn’t about chaos or copyright theft—it’s about restoring balance.

Repealing anti-circumvention laws would allow Canada to:

• ✅ Empower consumers to repair and adapt their own devices

• ✅ Enable startups to build around existing technologies

• ✅ Grow a sustainable, competitive tech economy

• ✅ Reduce foreign monopoly rents and reclaim economic value

• ✅ Strengthen digital sovereignty in an era of rising protectionism

Rather than retaliate with tariffs—which often backfire—this is a calm, intelligent, and high-impact policy move. It reflects our values, protects our future, and levels the playing field without violating trade rules.

It’s what "elbows up" looks like when we lead with strategy, not slogans.

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🧠 Final Thought

In today’s economy, control doesn’t just happen at the border—it happens in code, contracts, and copyright clauses.

Repealing anti-circumvention laws may seem technical, but it’s deeply strategic. It’s about reclaiming the right to innovate, repair, compete—and thrive—on our own terms.

Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.

🌱 Good News in Healthcare: A Reminder to Look for the Light

We live in a world where it’s easy—almost automatic—to see everything through dark-colored glasses.
Healthcare, unfortunately, doesn’t escape that lens.

In the United States, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has placed women’s reproductive rights and overall health at risk. Life expectancy has declined for the first time in decades. Structural cracks have widened post-pandemic.
The headlines are often, and understandably, grim.

And yet...
If we look a little closer, we see another story quietly unfolding. A story of hope, innovation, and real progress in human health.

🌿 Psychedelics Are Redefining Mental Health Treatment

One of the most transformative trends in healthcare today is the renewed exploration of psychedelics for mental health.
What was once dismissed as fringe is now entering mainstream clinical research, with promising results for conditions like PTSD, depression, anxiety, and addiction.

I wrote about this evolution in my past newsletters:

• Investing in the Future of Health

• Investment Opportunity: Inner State and the Psychedelic Renaissance

From MAPS’s phase 3 trials with MDMA for PTSD, to the FDA granting breakthrough therapy designations for psilocybin-based treatments, the mental health landscape is being reimagined—and it’s happening faster than many realize.

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🔬 Early Detection Technologies Are Saving Lives

Cancer remains one of humanity’s greatest challenges. But recent advances in early detection are changing outcomes dramatically.
Liquid biopsy technologies, multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests, and next-generation imaging are pushing diagnostics earlier—giving patients a real fighting chance.

I explored this in The Future of Early Cancer Detection.
When disease is caught earlier, treatments are less invasive, survival rates improve, and costs drop for healthcare systems.
This isn’t speculative hope—it’s happening now.

🧬 Reimagining Aging: Not Just Longer Life, But Better Life

Aging is no longer seen as an unchangeable fate. Breakthroughs in cellular reprogramming, senescence targeting, and metabolic interventions are giving rise to a future where aging could be treated—and even reversed.

In The Future of Aging: Can We Reverse the Clock?, I shared how science is moving beyond lifespan extension toward improving healthspan—the number of years we live with vitality and purpose.

This could reshape everything from personal wellbeing to healthcare economics.

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💪 The Evolving Landscape of Women's Health

It’s easy to forget how recent some foundational changes in women's healthcare actually are.

• Only about a decade ago did regulations formally require the inclusion of women in clinical trials, ensuring research finally reflected half the population. Around the same time, the FDA established the Office of Women’s Health, marking a critical step toward addressing gender-specific needs in healthcare policy and innovation.

• Today, we see greater representation across clinical research, diagnosis standards, treatment plans, and even pain management protocols—although we know the journey toward full equity is still ongoing.

• The world of beauty and skincare has also broadened. Products now account for a diversity of skin tones and needs that were largely ignored just 20 years ago—a sign of a more inclusive, better-informed industry.

• We are also witnessing the dismantling of stigmas around menopause, periods, postpartum mental health, and more. Topics once hidden in silence are increasingly brought to the forefront, reshaping how society, medicine, and policy approach women’s wellbeing.

• And perhaps just as importantly: strength training for women has gone mainstream. Building muscle and resilience is no longer viewed through outdated gender stereotypes but recognized as a vital pillar of lifelong health and vitality.

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🤖 AI and Preventive Health: A New Era of Proactive Care

Generative AI and predictive health models are revolutionizing not just how we treat disease, but how we prevent it.
Instead of waiting for illness to manifest, new AI tools are helping clinicians spot risks earlier and intervene sooner—moving healthcare from reactive to proactive.

I covered these advances in How Generative AI and Preventive Health Are Shaping the Future.
From predicting chronic disease risk to optimizing preventive care plans, AI is making healthcare smarter, faster, and ultimately more humane.

🧠 Humanistic, Tech-Enabled Care Is Gaining Ground

Finally, there’s a quiet revolution in how healthcare is delivered.
It’s not just about more technology—it’s about human-centered technology.
AI-driven diagnostics, remote monitoring, predictive analytics—all designed to empower clinicians and patients, not replace them.

I reflected on this shift in Reimagining Health: A Call for Humanistic Innovation.
Healthcare is slowly, but surely, becoming more personalized, more accessible, and more compassionate.

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🌟 The World We Are Building

Yes, there is darkness. But there is also light—bright, urgent, undeniable.

We are standing at the edge of profound transformation in healthcare:
one where mental health is destigmatized, deadly diseases are caught earlier, women’s health is better represented, aging is reimagined, and humanity—not bureaucracy—sits at the center of innovation.

Let’s not lose sight of that.
Because the world we focus on is the world we help create.

Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.

#HealthcareInnovation #PsychedelicTherapy #EarlyDetection #LongevityScience #WomensHealth #HumanisticHealthcare #FutureOfHealth #HealthcareTransformation #PositiveTrends #Wellbeing #StrengthForWomen

🚨 Through the Trump Prism: Why “Business as Usual” Is a Dangerous Illusion

Since December, I’ve had a series of surreal conversations with global investors—across North America and Europe. Each time, I ask a simple question:

“How are you adapting your investment thesis or business model to reflect the new Trump administration?”

The answer, more often than not?

“It doesn’t change anything.”

Really? Nothing?

This unwavering stance—expressed with confidence and even pride—has left me perplexed. I understand the instinct. There’s comfort in declaring yourself above the chaos. There’s even a kind of nationalistic defiance in pretending politics don’t matter to capital. But there’s a dangerous gap between the world as we wish it were and the world as it actually is.

And right now, the gap is widening.

📉 This Is Not Noise—It’s Policy

Since the inauguration, we’ve seen a tangible shift in U.S. economic policy that is already rippling through global business:

• Buy America initiatives are gaining traction—not just rhetoric, but procurement directives affecting defense, infrastructure, and energy sectors.

• Tariffs are being proposed or imposed in critical sectors: automotive, steel, semiconductors, agriculture, and pharma.

• The S&P 500 has dropped over 12% since January, at one point erasing nearly $5 trillion in market cap.

• Federal spending priorities have been reshaped, with budget cuts hitting public services and regulation-heavy industries—while defense, border infrastructure, and fossil fuels receive tailwinds.

To claim none of this impacts investment strategy or business operations is not only naïve—it signals a lack of strategic awareness.

💸 Even in Private Markets, Uncertainty Is Contagious

Private markets don’t operate in a vacuum. When macro signals shift, pricing becomes harder—on both the buy and sell side.

Volatility, even if not directly market-traded, disrupts sentiment, widens bid-ask spreads, delays exits, and introduces doubt into underwriting.

And here’s the kicker: redemptions are rising. In 2023 alone, U.S. private market funds saw an average 25% increase in redemption requests compared to the prior year. Investors want liquidity—but how are you returning capital in an environment where exits are slowing, valuations are compressed, and leverage is less accessible?

Add to that: allocators are rethinking their forward capital plans. For those not repatriating capital back to the U.S., they’re shifting away from perceived “policy risk zones” and toward asset classes or geographies that feel more insulated from nationalist crosswinds.

🔄 Resistance Is Futile. Adaptation Isn’t.

Some institutional investors are responding. They’re reallocating into policy-aligned sectors—domestic infrastructure, automation, critical minerals, AI-defense hybrids.

But behind closed doors, many still resist. They’re hoping the winds will die down. That the pendulum will swing back.

But hope isn’t a strategy. And pretending the storm isn’t real won’t keep your ship afloat.

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🧭 What Strategic Adaptation Looks Like

So, what does adaptation mean right now?

✅ Trump-proof your investments. This starts with value creation at the core—by stress-testing business models, rethinking go-to-market strategies, and repositioning for policy resilience, not just product-market fit.

✅ Reprice geopolitical and policy risk. Stress-test exposure to U.S.-centric regulatory volatility.
✅ Stay liquid and flexible. Build optionality in fund terms and deal structures.
✅ Rethink timing and targets. A great asset at the wrong moment is still a bad outcome.
✅ Diversify new capital flow away from U.S. single-policy exposure—toward sectors and markets less subject to whiplash governance.

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This isn’t about politics. It’s about performance.

If your current strategy assumes nothing has changed, then I’d argue—everything has already changed for you. You just haven’t seen it yet.

Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.

#InvestmentStrategy #TrumpAdministration #PrivateMarkets #CapitalAllocation #MacroeconomicRisk #GeopoliticalVolatility #BuyAmerica #Redemptions #PrivateEquity #RealAssets #PolicyRisk #Resilience

🌀Are You Too One Encounter Away from Greatness?

We tend to speak of success as if it's self-made—an isolated force of will or talent. But sometimes, it's a conversation. A connection. A quiet, decisive nudge in the right direction.

I was reminded of that last week while listening to Tim Whiten, the brilliant Toronto-based artist whose work has long blurred the line between matter and meaning. I first discovered him through Olga Korper Gallery—and after hearing him speak, I found myself even more drawn to the person behind the pieces.

What unfolded was more than an artist talk. It was a meditation on mentorship, the nature of consciousness, and the mysterious ways lives intertwine to shape what we call art—and who we become in the process.

🌀 One Encounter Away: Tim Whiten, Olga Korper, and the Echoes of Influence

I first discovered Tim Whiten a few years ago through Olga Korper Gallery—a place I’ve always considered more sanctuary than showroom. I admired his work then. I admire it even more now, after hearing him speak.

Whiten’s current exhibition, “A Little Bit of Light” at the Art Gallery of Ontario, showcases over five decades of exploration—spiritual, intellectual, and human. Glass, crystal, bone, cotton, leather—his materials are metaphors. His work isn’t meant to be explained, but experienced. The result is art that feels less like a product and more like a presence.

And yet, as profound as the art is, what struck me most was the story behind it.

🔍 The Power of One Person

During the talk, Whiten mentioned several people who shaped his path. His mother, who insisted on learning as a way of being. Oscar Oppenheimer, a philosopher-psychologist who guided his thinking. But one name echoed loudest: Olga Korper.

He said it plainly: “Without Olga, who would I be?”

Would someone else have played her role? Would he have found another way? Maybe. But maybe not in the same way, or with the same reach. It’s a reminder that a single person—an advocate, a curator, a friend—can shift the course of a life.

This isn’t just a story about mentorship. It’s about presence. About how one moment, one encounter, can widen a door that changes everything.

🧠 A Philosopher’s Hand, A Psychologist’s Heart

Tim Whiten’s background is in philosophy and psychology, and you feel it in every part of his work.

His art doesn’t answer questions. It invites them. It resists categorization—sometimes even the label “art.” What he creates is a form of human investigation: part ritual, part reflection.

He once said that “experience precedes language.” And so, when you engage with his installations—glass that becomes metaphor, cobalt that seems to guard—you’re not just observing. You’re participating.

🔮 From Darkness to Light

Across the exhibition, recurring motifs of transition—dense to transparent, darkness to light—mirror Whiten’s own spiritual evolution. These aren’t just sculptures or symbols. They’re allegories, as he put it, of a path that is always unfolding.

You might see something different each time you look. That’s by design. Multiple interpretations. Multiple entry points. Self-discovery as a living process.

Tim Whiten reminds us of the things we forget in our optimized, outcome-obsessed world:
👉 Learning is the student’s responsibility.
👉 The work holds no answers, only questions.
👉 The body is a vessel pointing to what can’t be seen.
👉 And one person—one gallerist, one mentor, one moment—can leave an indelible mark.

It’s a little bit of light. And a lot of truth.

The exhibition “Tim Whiten: A Little Bit of Light” is on now at the Art Gallery of Ontario, in partnership with the Gershon Iskowitz Foundation.

#ContemporaryArt #OlgaKorperGallery #ArtGalleryOfOntario #SelfDiscovery #ArtAsExperience

Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.

🧠 Navigating Conspiracy in the Digital Age: Between Critical Thinking and Certainty

A couple of weeks ago, I attended an insightful (and subtly provocative) event hosted by the French Consulate on conspiracy theories in the digital age, moderated by Radio-Canada’s Gabrielle Sabourin, featuring Rudy Reichstadt, founder of Conspiracy Watch. Students from the Université de l’Ontario Français also shared perspectives shaped by their immersion in digital culture.

As someone who works at the intersection of technology, behavioral insight, and strategic communication, I came away with two impressions:

1. The danger posed by disinformation is real—and accelerating.

2. The battle against it risks becoming dogmatic in its own right.

📈 From Fringe to Feed: How Conspiracies Gain Momentum

Rudy offered a compelling historical lens. The 9/11 attacks marked a turning point, where fringe conspiracy narratives—once confined to the political extremes—began influencing broader populations. Months after the attacks, alternative versions emerged. Years later, their impact was still spreading.

In response, he launched Conspiracy Watch, driven by a personal concern dating back to his teenage years around Holocaust denialism. That worry has evolved with the times, extending to pandemic skepticism, anti-vaccine movements, climate change denial, and geopolitical conspiracies.

A key insight: conspiracies no longer die. They persist. Rudy described them as “zombie ideas”, kept alive by digital permanence and algorithmic amplification.

And there’s data to back that up:

• 7 out of 10 YouTube videos watched are algorithm-driven

• More than 100,000 years’ worth of YouTube videos are watched daily

• Half of all content shared on X (formerly Twitter) hasn’t even been read

• A 2016 study showed seniors were the most likely to share fake news on Facebook

These platforms reward the sensational, not the factual.

🧪 Why Conspiracies Resonate: Simplicity, Certainty, Community

Rudy broke down the psychological ingredients of a conspiracy theory:

• There’s always a scapegoat

• There’s always uncertainty (“we’ll never know what really happened”)

• And there’s often a rejection of reality, replaced with emotional conviction

This helps explain why conspiracies feel empowering: they offer certainty in a world full of doubt, complexity, and moral ambiguity. They provide a sense of control and, perhaps most powerfully, a sense of belonging.

As he put it: “The conspiracy mindset isn’t always about fascination—it can also be rooted in fear, anger, or a refusal to accept powerlessness.”

And while Rudy was persuasive, I couldn’t help but notice a hint of intellectual rigidity in his own approach—particularly in how confidently he claimed to identify “real experts” and how firmly he dismissed alternative interpretations. It made me reflect on the fine line between healthy skepticism and intellectual dogma.

⚠️ Enter Brandolini’s Law: The Disinformation Asymmetry

One of the most important frameworks shared during the discussion was Brandolini’s Law:

“The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude greater than to produce it.”

And it shows. It’s exponentially easier—and cheaper—to create false narratives than to verify accurate ones. A true, verified piece of information requires time, resources, expertise. A conspiracy meme, on the other hand? Seconds.

This asymmetry is the crux of the disinformation crisis.

Add to that the sheer scale of content (YouTube, Telegram, X) and the collapse of editorial gatekeeping, and it’s easy to see why trust in media, institutions, and even truth itself is eroding.

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🛡️ Is There a Solution?

Rudy emphasized education, critical thinking, and quality journalism. He also advocated for platform accountability—noting that Telegram’s founder was detained in France amid a child exploitation investigation, yet many still view the platform as an untouchable pillar of free speech.

Other actionable insights:

• Signal misinformation on platforms when detected

• Compare opposing channels, even if they contradict your beliefs

• Understand how real conspiracies have actually unfolded—they rarely look like the theories

• Slow down—speed is the enemy of accuracy, and clickbait doesn’t equal credibility

Importantly, Rudy made space for constructive doubt. “It’s not about refusing to question authority,” he said, “It’s about recognizing when doubt becomes a substitute for evidence.”

A line I really appreciated.

🔄 Final Reflection: When Debunking Becomes Dogma

While I valued Rudy’s urgency and depth, I also walked away wondering: What happens when the fight against disinformation becomes inflexible itself? His ability to call out misinformation is sharp—but it sometimes came with a certainty that made me pause.

What if, in our effort to combat false narratives, we become less open to complexity and nuance?

That’s the paradox of our era: we need clarity without oversimplification, and confidence without certainty. We need to protect truth while still questioning power.

Let’s not lose sight of that balance.

Peggy Van de Plassche is a seasoned advisor with over 20 years of experience in financial services, healthcare, and technology. She specializes in guiding boards and C-suite executives through transformational change, leveraging technology and capital allocation to drive growth and innovation. A founding board member of Invest in Canada, Peggy also brings unique expertise in navigating complex issues and fostering public-private partnerships—key elements in shaping the Future of Business. Her skill set includes strategic leadership, capital allocation, transaction advisory, technology integration, and governance. Notable clients include BMO, CI Financial, HOOPP, OMERS, GreenShield Canada, Nicola Wealth, and Power Financial. For more information, visit peggyvandeplassche.com.