Are Family Office Leaders The Next Professional Athletes?
In the corporate world we often take our inspiration from athletes. They are dedicated, strong-willed and inexhaustible. They consistently strive to be better; recognise that learning has no end and overcome insuperable odds by simply succeeding. They appreciate the importance of a team, their personal desire to achieve success is unparalleled and they understand that while luck exists, nothing quite correlates with victory like hard-work. All of the above has made professional athletes worthy of a few titles which range from motivational speaker to everyday hero, they are the embodiment of a corporate success story and while that is unquestionable, there are other sources of inspiration, some of which are a lot closer to home. Getty Images  Family Office Leaders are the personification of inspiration. Like athletes, they have a desire to monopolise their field and dedicate all of their time, energy and resources to achieving it. They are devoted, driven and determined while both appreciative and reliant on a team who they trust unconditionally. Family Office Leaders not only have a personal desire to succeed but they carry the torch of a family name. For them, it isnt simply about hitting records, it is about creating a legacy. Leaving behind a story, a meaning and most importantly, a purpose for generations to come. The lessons left for corporate organisations are also invaluable and one reason why they might just be your next source of inspiration. Family Offices have sophisticated investment strategies which they use to both preserve and generate extraordinary wealth and unlock the most lucrative of opportunity. They set trends inside and outside of the financial markets and use their wealth to not just generate impressive returns but make real differences. This was especially evident during the pandemic where Family Office Leaders congregated to make change. They financially supported the worlds first vaccine and offered a private hand to a struggling public sector. Impact and Investing are just two Family Office Practices that could be replicated with great success in a corporate world of work, here are some more. Retaining Talent. Family Office Leaders can often have unbreakable bonds with their staff. It isnt uncommon for professionals to stay with their families for 30,40 or even 50 years and in fact, we recently ran a survey on our internal data at Agreus and discovered that 95% of professionals placed within the last five years remain today. Family Office Leaders do a great deal to retain their staff. From offering attractive compensation packages and access to private assets to investing in their local communities and trying to make change. Family Offices go above and beyond to keep their staff engaged, motivated and interested in the success of the Family Office and in return, professionals remain devoted to making a success of the Family Office and their leader  a loyalty that would not go a miss in the corporate world of work. While staff turnover is a risk Family Offices cannot afford, it is something that cripples organisations of every kind and so taking inspiration from Family Office retention strategies could be the best thing for your business. Diversity. D&I is on the agenda of any leader and every corporate board and it has been for years. From gender quota to creating an inclusive workplace culture, athletes of all different paths have often joined this conversation but no one can quite inspire why you should hire difference like Family Offices. Family Office Leaders could quite simply, keep it in the family. They could employ relations to sit around a table and make decisions on everything from accounts and investments to administration and philanthropy but it wouldnt be all that inspirational neither would it make commercial success. While they may share an ancestor or even a surname, they will not be able to guarantee a return on investment, the cutting of costs or the promise of a legacy because the surname does not equate to subject matter expertise whereas hiring differently does. More than 60% of Family Offices hire their Managing Director and CEO from outside of the family and a further 92% said the most efficient Family Offices are those with a combination of family and external hires and it is for one simple reason, strength lies in differences and not similarities and Family Offices lead the charge on this count. Inclusion. The other half of D&I. Family Office Leaders also lead the way in creating inclusive and efficient workplace cultures by focusing on Cultural Fit more than qualifications, competencies or any other hiring metric. In fact, 92% of Family Office Leaders say the ability to fit in with their culture is the single most important characteristic of a prospective hire. Focusing on Emotional Intelligence, personality, culture types and values, Family Office Leaders hire as if they were introducing a new member to the family and it is this understanding of culture and its requirements that should be a real inspiration to outside organisations. The Win-Win of Impact Investing. While some expect extraordinary wealth to come with extraordinary generosity, it doesnt have to and the strength, willing and compassion of the Family Office community should inspire all organisations to do what they can to give back. While this really is what makes the world go round, there is also a clear correlation between doing good and making money and nowhere is this clearer than in the fields of Impact Investing. Family Offices, led by the next generation of leaders, are committed to impact investing and making true change while also generating a return. Its a win-win for Family Offices and the communities they pledge to make a difference in. Its why we have a coronavirus vaccine, how the majority of early-stage science ventures are funded and equally behind the high-street chains we walk into every day. If that isnt inspirational, I am not quite sure what is.