Family Offices are unique organizations. One topic not often talked about, but always present, is Family Office Loyalty. Over the course of the past week, Black River secured an engagement to implement Intacct with a large single family office in the western United States. While we are only in the beginning stages our our engagement, the topic at hand, family office loyalty, has already shown itself. The entire organization runs on the following principle – Nothing is more important than the family.
Throughout our entire negotiation process, the key driver, on all points from our client’s perspective was:
Is this what is going to be the best for the family?
In today’s fast paced, constantly changing and fluid business world, this is refreshing. Loyalty, a fundamental tenet of human behavior is fiercely embraced by a relatively small group of business professionals, those administering the family offices.
This is by no means to say that loyalty does not exist in most workplaces, it certainly does. It is simply to point out that this principle and the commitment to it is both embodied and ingrained in the world of the family office. Those with family offices resolutely guard their privacy and those who administer their affairs take the issue very seriously and with a seldom seen passion.
This mindset has benefits that may not be obvious at first glance but become very clear once we delve into it. Imagine for a moment that the sole purpose of your business and it’s entire existence is to help your clients achieve greatness in the field in which you serve them. The field of business in this case is a moot point. Whatever you do, assuming that you are an expert in the field, if you are driven by your client’s success, the end result will be your own success. How can a business not be successful if all its’ clients feel that their expectations have been exceeded and their problems solved and eliminated. Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it? And yet it is so easily achieved. Let the client’s success be your reason for being. Your wins will come and keep on coming! And what underpins this idyllic world – your loyalty to your clients.
Let’s take a lesson from the Family Office playbook – loyalty is one of the keys to true success.
