{"id":41101,"date":"2025-08-12T07:50:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altoo.io\/?p=41101"},"modified":"2026-01-26T18:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:34:13","slug":"heritage-et-latitude-comment-les-heritiers-construisent-leur-propre-chemin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altoo.io\/fr\/legacy-and-latitude-how-heirs-build-their-own-path\/","title":{"rendered":"H\u00e9ritage et latitude : Comment les h\u00e9ritiers construisent leur propre chemin"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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When Tradition Becomes Terrain<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Family-owned firms form the bedrock of Europe\u2019s private economy, comprising an estimated 70 – 80% of all businesses and employing nearly half the region\u2019s workforce (European Commission, 2023). But their continuity is fragile: only 30% survive to the second generation, and just 12% make it to the third (OECD).<\/span><\/p>

Faced with the statistical fragility of inherited enterprises, many heirs are reconsidering their role. Some step into leadership roles, others create ventures of their own. According to UBS\u2019s global survey of 156 entrepreneurs from business families, 52% believe their ventures will outpace the legacy firm, and 68% cite personal values, not inheritance, as their core motivator. This is not rebellion, but reframing.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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From Legacy to Launch<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Marco, a third-generation heir from Zurich, represents a growing cohort of next-gen entrepreneurs who seek to complement rather than replicate the family legacy. In an interview with Altoo Insights, he shared the contours of his journey. His family had built a sizeable enterprise in high-precision machinery, with roots dating back to the post-war industrial boom. Marco, however, studied biomedical engineering at EPFL in Lausanne, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at a biotech lab in Boston.<\/span><\/p>

On returning to Switzerland, he began developing a biomedical diagnostics platform targeting early-stage neurodegenerative diseases. Instead of embedding the project into the family\u2019s existing industrial holding, Marco insisted on launching a completely separate vehicle. His rationale was both personal and strategic: different risk profiles, different regulatory regimes, and a different timeline for value creation.<\/span><\/p>

The family agreed to support him: on the condition that operational governance remained fully independent. Marco raised external seed capital and appointed a board composed entirely of non-family executives. Oversight and reporting are managed through Altoo, the digital wealth platform already used by the family office, allowing Marco to share financial updates transparently while maintaining full control over management. <\/span>The arrangement, supported by Altoo\u2019s reporting infrastructure, draws a clear line between what is family capital, and what is Marco\u2019s own.<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Impact Within the Perimeter<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Others are reimagining legacy not from the outside, but from within. Hayley Morris, second-generation leader at Morris Group in Australia, inherited not just capital but a firm cultural blueprint: the family office, founded by her father Chris Morris after the success of Computershare, was built around commercial property and hospitality. Hayley brought a different focus. With degrees in sustainability and a strong philanthropic impulse, she established a renewables and impact investing division inside the family office, an initiative backed with substantial internal capital.<\/span><\/p>

In interviews, she describes the process as one of \u201cbuilding shared outcomes from different instincts.\u201d The structure she implemented included clearly defined impact metrics, separate reporting lines, and an independent advisory committee to evaluate projects beyond the traditional asset classes. Her initiative now operates semi-independently but remains capitalised and governed by the broader Morris platform. <\/span>For family offices, the lesson is clear: younger generations don\u2019t need to leave the fold to innovate, only to be given room to do so.<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Independence Through Distance<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Brad Harris took a different route. The son of Flight Centre co-founder Geoff Harris, Brad observed the challenges of unstructured leadership firsthand. \u201cMy old man had zero process,\u201d he noted in an interview with The Australian. After completing his MBA, Brad launched a corporate training company aimed at institutionalising management development\u2014a pointed contrast to the family\u2019s more informal model.<\/span><\/p>

Rather than draw on family equity, he self-financed the early stages and hired professional coaches as co-founders. Governance was formal from day one: external board members, quarterly audits, and defined growth metrics. His company has since grown into a leading provider of B2B training for scale-ups and family-owned firms, many of which mirror his own experience.<\/span><\/p>

Brad\u2019s success lies in his use of formal governance not as a constraint, but as an enabling discipline. <\/b>His venture remains independent, but the entrepreneurial, irreverent, growth-driven ethos still echoes the Flight Centre DNA.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Lessons for the Family Office<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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These narratives carry practical implications for family offices tasked with guiding intergenerational transitions. First, structure matters. When next-gen entrepreneurs are treated as mere custodians, they resist. When given frameworks\u2014separate boards, segmented capital, transparent KPIs, they often flourish.<\/span><\/p>

Digital tools, such as the Altoo platform used by Marco, can support transparency without intrusion, an increasingly important balance as family offices expand across jurisdictions.<\/span><\/p>

Next-gen ventures can complement, rather than compete with, the core family business. Whether it\u2019s Hayley\u2019s clean energy portfolio or Brad\u2019s leadership institute, these ventures extend the family\u2019s relevance into new markets and generations.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Policy Context<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Governments, too, are paying attention. Germany anticipates over 230,000 SME successions by the end of this year, yet many businesses face closure for lack of a prepared successor (Reuters, 2025). In response, ministries are piloting support schemes for heirs and women founders, including subsidised coaching, startup capital, and training in family governance.<\/span><\/p>

OECD reports suggest that Europe still underperforms in entrepreneurial mobilisation: only 11% of men and 6% of women under 40 in the EU are involved in early-stage start-ups, despite far higher interest levels (OECD, 2023). This gap (amounting to over 7.5 million underrepresented entrepreneurs) is not merely statistical, it is a drag on long-term competitiveness.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Governance: From Shadows to Structure<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Effective transitions increasingly rely on two-level governance: one for the legacy firm, another for the new venture. The Swedish Wallenberg family offers one of the most instructive models for modern dynastic wealth management. Through foundation-owned holdings, they maintain influence over major firms like Ericsson, ABB and AstraZeneca while enabling younger family members to pursue academic, philanthropic or entrepreneurial ventures\u2014with financial and governance guardrails provided, not imposed. The result is a balance between freedom and stewardship. Few dynasties manage both so effectively.<\/span><\/p>

Key mechanisms include:<\/span><\/p>