Most conversations about family offices happen through the lens of investments. Almost none happen through the lens of families. That is why we, at Westwick, have decided to take the floor.
Family offices have operated quietly for generations. Over the past decade, they have become the financial industry's golden goose, often reduced to their investment capacity and measured by what they allocate.
Anyone who has worked for families from the inside knows the reality is different. A family is a complex ecosystem: several generations, each with its own expectations, and dynamics that keep shifting. The family office is only a tool to hold all of that together. Very little of this makes it into the conversation.
Between them, our partners have spent more than a hundred years working for families from the inside. That is exactly the perspective the public conversation leaves out, so we have chosen to add it: speaking at events, writing, recording podcasts. Gilles, Isabelle, Andy, Paul and John each built their careers serving families directly.
The conversation about family offices is incomplete without the voice of the people they exist to serve. If you are organising one, make sure families are actually part of it.
Frequently asked questions
Why are families themselves missing from the family office conversation?
The public conversation about family offices is dominated by investment and finance voices, which tend to reduce a family office to its investment capacity. The people who have worked inside families, and the families themselves, are rarely heard, even though the family office is only a tool serving a complex, multi-generational group. The conversation is incomplete without them.