Pieter Wijffels, Botswana Spain and Veluwe
Pieter Wijffels (48) is a venture partner at NLC Health Ventures. After six years in China and four years in the United States working for Philips, he now lives in the Netherlands with his wife and three daughters. Curiosity and the drive to keep creating new things, combined with entrepreneurship, boldness and a focus on impact, define Pieter. He sums it up in two words: Discovering Together. “I am always working on new things. But I especially enjoy doing them with other people.” This has been true since his youth and student years, and it still guides him today as he seeks new challenges in both his personal and professional life.
Pieter has long been connected with people involved in leadership and authentic leadership, one of FNL’s core values. As the son of Herman Wijffels, one of FNL’s founders, he followed the organization from the start. It was only a matter of time before he joined a trail himself. That moment came at the end of his time at Philips: “I no longer really knew if I wanted to stay at Philips, or what I wanted with my life. With my professional life, because privately I was very happy.” That realization prompted his first trail in Botswana.
Alongside his work, Pieter is active in YPO, a global network for young leaders that promotes leadership development and fosters support and connection beyond the business context. This year he will serve as chair of YPO Netherlands. The program includes an annual multi day retreat. “With that group, you go away every year for three or four days to get even more depth.” His group chose to do this with FNL, first in Spain and later through the newly developed Veluwequest
The memories of Botswana remain vivid. The days in the Okavango Delta were intense and offered a new kind of challenge. “I can clearly remember floating through the delta in a mokoro. Truly incredible.” Pieter goes on to describe his most impactful moment: “At one point, I had the night watch and further away a patch of grassland was on fire. We were sitting by the river when a few very large elephants crossed the river.”
He recalls the red glow lighting the grassland and the elephants in the night. “In some way, that was the moment I thought: yes, everything is burning around them, but those elephants just choose their own path. They have to cross the river and they do not care that everything around them is on fire.” In that moment he realised he needed to look deeper within to decide what he truly wanted. That crystallised into three core values: impact, entrepreneurship and connection.
For Pieter, that first trail was a turning point. “Each time I got a higher position, a more comfortable life, but I was becoming increasingly unhappy. The trail turned everything around.” His second and third trails, in Spain and in the Veluwe, were moments of reorientation: returning to the core, checking whether he was still true to his path, and adjusting where needed.
On the value of a trail, Pieter says: “Through a trail you peel away one layer, and then another new layer appears. You peel that away, and yet another layer comes. Each time you go a little deeper, and that process keeps going. I think it lasts your entire life.”
He sees this layered process not only in himself but also in the wider FNL community. “We are now at the point where several hundred people go on trail each year. That creates a cumulative effect. When I meet someone who has been on a trail, I notice it very quickly. We talk about it and move forward together. It has become a movement, which is impressive.”According to Pieter, FNL is once again at a crucial turning point. “It is time to take the next step. How do we distinguish ourselves from other parties? FNL is the golden standard.”
His message is clear: FNL must remain the leading organization, and for that, change is essential.
