11. Turning toward discomfort and Attuning to others — with CEO Mac Van Wielingen

Every now and then you meet someone truly special, and you just know it.

This was my first impression of Canadian Mac Van Wielingen, shaped by his presence and by his family history.

I was deeply moved by his personal story and by that of his Jewish father, who fled the Nazis in Germany and ended up in the Dutch resistance, operating close to the very village I was born in.

That connection hit me in a way I did not expect.

Mac (Canadian with a Dutch mother and a German father) is the Founder and Chairman of Viewpoint Group, a Canadian family-owned investment and philanthropic holding structure, as well as the Founder and presently Partner of ARC Financial Corporation, a private equity firm with approximately $6 billion CAD under management.

He is known as the Rebel-Investor and is a strong believer in “ethical leadership”. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for his philanthropic contributions, and he is a regular advisor to the Canadian federal government on energy and climate-related issues.

Already in our pre-podcast intake call, we ended up in a deep dive into everything between Heaven and Earth. Some of my favorite take-aways from my conversations with Mac are these:

He uses intuition in boardrooms by saying, “I don’t know why, but I am uncomfortable with something here, please help me understand,” inviting trust, psychological safety, and opening the door to “the unspoken”, the tacit knowledge the rest of the room is sitting on.

Mac also speaks vulnerably about his private life, shaped by seeking meaning and by confronting the WWII trauma in his family history. He shares how “discomfort” has been his greatest teacher throughout life.

Interestingly, his father did not speak about that past until he was 85. Mac had been sensing his family’s pain long before the words were ever spoken, which I believe may have sharpened his intuitive gifts over the years. Something had been transmitting meaning and depth through deep silence.

And this, maybe most of all, is my biggest take-away and lesson from him:

To turn toward discomfort, not away from it. Because, however hard it may be at times, it is in the discomfort where life’s greatest teachings lay hidden.

With an enormous amount of respect and gratitude, I would like to invite you to listen to our conversation.

I am humbled to have had the opportunity to speak with him.

Thank you.

Links to Mac and companies

About Mac and Viewpoint: ttps://www.macvw.ca/biography-1

ARC Financial: https://www.arcfinancial.com/

Viewpoint Investment http://www.viewpointinvestment.ca

Links to Maurice

Decoding Intuition™: https://www.intuitiveleader.net/masterclass

Community: https://www.intuitiveleader.net/community

Webinars: https://www.intuitiveleader.net/webinars

Podcast: https://www.intuitiveleader.net/podcast

Email: [e-mail]

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mauricejenkens/