In family offices, managing a legacy and securing a smooth succession are even more important than investing acumen. This year, Crain Currency focused on family office management issues and events — from staff changes and next-gen priorities to deciding on a role in the family business and how to keep your office nimble and resilient.
Here are the five most-read stories on family office management in Crain Currency this year.
5. Next generation drives global family office expansion
Family offices are increasingly becoming international, with locations scattered across the globe, to take advantage of friendlier tax and regulatory compliance in other countries and pursue direct deals with promising startups around the world. Spurred by next-gen family members, the pandemic-related rise in remote work and new technologies, the cross-border growth also presents challenges — legal, cultural and logistical — that need to be overcome.
4. Why that famous adage about family offices is so wrong
Within the family office community, it is time to take Mr. Walton’s motto to heart and challenge the oft-recited adage “If you have seen one family office, then you have seen only one family office.” Academics, advisers and families repeat this slogan ad nauseam. But it is just plain wrong.
3. Behind closed doors: Family members tell us why they joined the family business
For next-gen family office members, one of the biggest decisions is whether to join the family business. The process can be exciting but also emotionally fraught, full of expectations as well as the potential for disappointment. And for some, it can be an enormous comfort and a confidence booster — a sign of trust that you can carry on the family legacy.
2. Angelo Robles leaves Family Office Association
Angelo Robles, the charismatic founder of the Family Office Association (FOA), has left the organization amid tension and disagreements with an investor he brought in who eventually got controlling interest of the FOA. Robles launched the membership organization for ultra-high-net-worth individuals in 2008 but recently resigned over differences about the group's direction, he told Crain Currency in an interview.
1. Creating your legacy: Forging your path in the family business
In the debut of Crain Currency Conversations, Editor Kristen Oliveri sat down with KC Crain (right), CEO of Crain Communications Inc., and Salvatore Ferragamo Jr., CEO of Il Borro, to talk about creating legacy and forging your own path within the family business. The two men spoke candidly about the inner workings and structures of their businesses as well as the great challenge of continuing to innovate in a fast-paced, ever-changing world.