Pieter was born at the start of the golden Sixties, “and was the result of a fertile fusion between two people”, as he likes to put it. “But this merger was so intense that a second unit entered the world at the same time!” He believes that being a twin helped to immediately establish the basis of one of his mottos in life: “Never put off until tomorrow, what you can - together with others - do more efficiently today. And never put off until tomorrow, what you absolutely don’t have to do today.”
Testing ideas and hypotheses, and experiencing them first hand: it has become second nature to Pieter. No one is better placed to combine theory and practice. Besides collaborating with businesses, which enables practical reflection in his work as lecturer, he also acts as adviser to countless organisations and companies, and sits as a judge at the Court of Commerce in Ghent, where he says he has learned a great deal about emotions and body language, particularly when dealing with bankruptcies. “It would be impossible for me to live without this mix; it’s natural for me to view things from multiple perspectives. Knowledge supports your actions and vice versa.”
This typifies Pieter De Smet perfectly. Direct, down-to-earth, very human and 100% sure of what he is saying. “I say and show things exactly how I think of them, but always well argued and well founded. In fact, that’s another one of my mottos: only open your mouth if what you have to say is more interesting than the silence!”
