RESEAR CH + RANKINGS


asked why she was not raising her own offspring to manage the family’s wealth: “We wanted our children to lead ‘real’ lives,” she says.


Pride and prejudice This generational reticence to address family fortunes with their daughters corrected itself in three ways among our 10 Leading Ladies. About half of the women interviewed who held wealth or asset management roles regularly consulted external financial advisers. One gained further insight from the research produced by financial services. The women who very rarely turned to financial services had themselves forged careers in the sector. Such experience gained outside


the family, then brought into the business, helped women develop their skill-set and was deemed invaluable on multiple levels. Parents insisted Naef, her brother, and sister joined Naef Group because they wanted to and only once they had earned their place. She started as a secretary at the age of 21 and worked her way up. “I am in a position now, both


personally and professionally, where I can say that we are


certainly on our way to managing by ourselves,” she says. “But it is also really nice that my parents are still


involved to a greater or lesser extent because we can really benefit from their experience.” Working outside the insulation of the family


business meant navigating gender politics for one woman, today a respected wealth management entrepreneur. But she felt out of place when she started working as an engineer among 50-year-old men in a different overseas industry in the 1990s. The gender imbalance did not improve when she


moved into asset management in the 2000s. “I spent all my career dealing with men in


positions where I seldom met other women at the same level of responsibility,” she says.


ISSUE 72 | 2018


“The problem I think most men had with me is


that they could not put me either in one box or the other. They could not treat me like [their idea of] a woman because I never allowed them to tell me what to do. And they could not put me in the male box because I would not fight against them.”


Persuasion Familial and cultural expectations, place of birth and its politics, and the challenges of simply being a woman in the workplace spurred these Leading Ladies into entrepreneurialism, both in the boardroom and through philanthropy. The earnest attitudes to wealth the women


were brought up on are, in turn, instilled in their next generation—the emphasis on education and practical work experience and the duty of care that should come with privilege. “The person you are and the way you behave is


your legacy,” one wealth holder says. Tissot’s daughter finished her undergraduate


education in hospitality management and went on to work in the family’s foundation. “If she chooses to work more actively in the


family business, she is welcome,” Tissot says. The women valued the mentoring they received


from their parents and counselled their peers to remain true to themselves. “Do not try to be like a man,” Bar-Gera says. “Just feel comfortable with who you are and what


you are.” However, there was a degree of history repeating


itself when it came to teaching the next generation how to manage the family fortune. The participants largely admitted preparing their children was “on the to-do list”. This attitude calls to mind the two- thirds of wealthy families who still do not have a written succession plan, as revealed by the Global Family Office Report 2017. One entrepreneur says her children were simply


not interested, but she had taken them to meetings with financial advisers to help them understand their situation. “This is only the beginning,” she says. “We need to do it more actively. We also need to


come back from meetings and talk to the children about them; make this a part of our discussions at home.” These wealthy Swiss women are taking the


practicalities of wealth and the future of their families in their own hands—Jane Austen would surely have approved.


CAMPDENFB.COM 57


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88