Values in Transition: How Family Businesses can secure their future – with confidence and joy
Why do entrepreneurial families today need more than just asset management?
Eighty-eight percent of all companies in Switzerland are family-owned. They are the backbone of our economy – yet face a quiet but profound challenge: inner transformation.
In the next five years, 20 percent of these companies will need to address succession planning. Fewer than a third have a concrete plan in place. At the same time, a new generation is emerging, bringing with it fresh perspectives on impact, responsibility, and purpose – and a desire to embed these values in the family’s strategic direction. What to do when the existing framework still holds – but no longer suffices?
Dialogue begins with self-confidence
At ESSENCE RELATIONS, we do not begin the strategic process with numbers or structures, but with questions: What defines a family business? What is its inner compass? Where does it stand today – and where is it headed?
Through curated family workshops, we create space for these essential conversations. A space for what is often crowded out by daily business – candid, in-depth dialogues about values, aspirations, and visions for the future. About the family charter. We help shape a shared language as the foundation for meaningful next steps.
Strategy as a mirror of identity
Impact is never accidental. It stems from attitude – from a clear sense of how responsibility is lived within the family, and how that responsibility can be expressed in a world in flux.
We support entrepreneurial families in developing a resilient ownership strategy – one that balances preservation and innovation. Continuity and change. The present – and the future.
Purpose with perspective. Impact with grounding.
Many family businesses today want more than to preserve – they want to shape. Yet meaningful impact arises not from goodwill alone, but from defined goals, sound analysis, and the right support.
Whether in the development of a foundation, through targeted philanthropic engagement, or in co-investment with our boutique MINUS2, we make impact measurable, strategic, and sustainable.
As sparring partners, we have been guiding family enterprises for over 13 years through generational transitions – with sensitivity to family dynamics, a strong network, and experience at the intersection of business, society, politics, and media. We listen, clarify, connect – and help make new things possible.
For more insights on the topic, download the following presentation for free: