Viisi: A Financial Firm Rooted in Trust and Self-Management

This blog post is part of 80+ case studies of progressive organizations we created for the ZeroDX awards 2025. These organizations embody the principles of RenDanHeYi in their work structures:

• Zero Distance to customer: Decision what to build is based on insights from the marketplace

• Autonomy: Small teams with full decision-making autonomy enable speed in execution

• Shared Rewards: Everyone in the micro-enterprise participates in its financial success.

Today, Viisi employs nearly forty people in the Netherlands and has earned a reputation as an organization where clients feel understood and employees are trusted to lead. Co-founder Tom van der Lubbe often describes the company’s evolution as a continuous sequence of small, deliberate changes rather than dramatic transformations. “We started fifteen years ago,” he said, “and we do things very gradually. We ask all the time: should we do this better?” This patient approach has become a hallmark of Viisi’s culture, where decisions are shaped through dialoguerather than imposed from above. It reflects the idea that a clear mission is not static but constantly co-created, one of the foundations of RenDanHeYi.

This preference for participatory change is visible in many examples. When employees raised the question of whether everyone should have more time off, Viisi did not rush to introduce a policy. The topic moved through conversations in multiple circles, with each team considering the implications. After about half a year of discussion, the companyagreed that for every three years of tenure, each employee would receive one additional day of holiday. Tom reflectedthat even though it seemed like a small adjustment, it mattered because everyone could see how decisions were made collectively. This process illustrated the principle that employees at all levels should have a voice in shaping the business, aligning with RenDanHeYi’s focus on participation in mission and strategy.

The same mindset guides Viisi’s governance. The organization is built around circles that operate with significantindependence, with roles like Lead Link and Rep Link elected by peers and rotated over time. These structures makeViisi less of a traditional hierarchy and more of a network, with authority distributed rather than concentrated. While the founders believed that rotating responsibilities would help everyone develop, the company learned to balance this principle with respect for personal differences. “We have a rotation principle, to raise the floor and give people experience,” Tom explained. “But we also have the principle of experience itself. In good times, you rotate. In badtimes, you value experience.” Over time, Viisi accepted that real autonomy means some colleagues prefer not to take on coordinating roles, and that choice deserves respect. This combination of distributed authority and individual freedom reflects the idea that self-managing teams must have the space to decide how they operate, without being forced into uniform solutions.

Trust is equally visible in how Viisi approaches compensation. Salaries are benchmarked to the top quartile of marketstandards and increase automatically over time, without any connection to individual performance targets. “We abolished performance-driven salaries years ago,” Tom said. “And it works well. We have the highest revenue per advisor, no fluctuation, and the highest employee satisfaction.” Instead of using pay as a lever to enforce competition, Viisi treats it as an expression of confidence that people will act responsibly. This approach shows how the company combines shared rewards with transparency, creating a context where employees feel safe to focus on the work itself rather than internal competition.

The company also invests in shared experiences, from annual trips abroad to celebrations that bring people togetherbeyond their daily roles. “I see it as a compliment,” Tom said with a smile, “when all the partners say our Christmas dinner is much better than the one where they work.” These gatherings strengthen Viisi’s sense of community and show how purpose and belonging can be nurtured through small traditions as much as through formal policies.

Viisi’s commitment to staying close to customers can be seen in how advisors are empowered to act withoutbureaucratic interference. Tom compared it to a restaurant where diners expect a single point of contact rather than being passed around. “I think it’s the most natural thing,” he explained. “Everyone wants to help a client. No onewants to see them dissatisfied.” This direct connection is at the heart of the zero distance principle in RenDanHeYi: the people closest to the customer are the ones who solve problems and make decisions. Because Viisi deliberately limits growth, advisors can maintain personal relationships rather than spread themselves too thin. After the last financial crisis, the company set a clear goal: to survive six months without revenue or a full year at half revenue. This discipline underpins decisions about growth, hiring, and investment. Tom believes that protecting employees and customers from the pressure of short-term thinking is a responsibility the company owes to everyone involved. In this way, resilience and prudent risk-taking become part of everyday decision-making instead of abstract ideals.

As Viisi has grown, its ambition has evolved from specializing in mortgage advice to becoming a comprehensive financial planning partner. Advisors are preparing to become Certified Financial Planners so they can help clients withwealth management, insurance, tax, and real estate. Tom described the vision as moving from a narrow specialty to something closer to a modern family office. “In the long run,” he said, “we will be a totally different company. But the core will still be human.” This transition requires new training and tools and shows how Viisi invests in strengthening skills and integrating different kinds of expertise. It also reflects an understanding that a company’s value grows when employees are trusted to learn and adapt to complex challenges.

Perhaps the most striking feature of Viisi’s culture is how personal it has become over time. Colleagues arecomfortable sharing not only professional updates but also significant moments from their private lives, such as caringfor a newborn, supporting an elderly parent, or taking an
extended break to recharge. “We had a couple who took a sabbatical together,” Tom van der Lubbe recalled. “Andeveryone understood. Because everyone knows that next year, it could be their own parent who needs care.” This openness has gradually turned Viisi into a community built on trust and mutual support. As Tom described it, thecompany has become a place where people look after each other without needing formal rules to tell them how. This way of working is not accidental. It has emerged from deliberate choices to remove fear, encourage honesty, and treat each person as more than their role. It is a reminder that RenDanHeYi is not only about structures and tools but also about creating an environment where people feel safe bringing their whole selves to work.

Viisi’s story shows that financial services do not have to be defined by short-term gains or impersonal processes. By combining autonomy, shared responsibility, and a commitment to learning, the company demonstrates that trust is notan abstract idea but the foundation of every decision it makes. In this way, Viisi offers a living example of how principles like distributed authority, zero distance to customers, transparent rewards, and a shared mission can be woven into the fabric of an organization in any industry.