For successors in family businesses
Your path in the family business
Succession in a family business is more than a career decision. It’s about responsibility, expectations, and the question of which role truly fits you.
Whether you want to join the business, take on responsibility as a shareholder, or go your own way for the time being: INTES helps you gaining clarity, developing your skills, and playing an active part in shaping the future of the family business.
Succession takes many paths
Responsibility for a family business can take many different forms. Perhaps one day you want to take over operational leadership. Perhaps you see your role more as a shareholder, on the advisory board, or within the family. Or perhaps you’re still unsure whether, and if so how, the family business should become part of your career.
What matters is not living up to a predefined image of succession. What matters is finding a role that fits you, your family, and the business.
What do you need for your next step?
Do I want to take on responsibility in the family business — and if so, in which role? Together, we clarify your goals, skills, and expectations, and develop a path that fits you, your family, and the company.
Whether you’re member of the management, on the advisory board, or shareholder role: every role requires knowledge and expertise. In our seminars and workshops, you will prepare specifically for your future role.
Other NextGens are familiar with your questions from their own experience. In the INTES NextGen community, you’ll find a safe space for open discussion, new perspectives, and meaningful connections.
How are other NextGens shaping their paths? Through profiles, interviews, studies and specialist articles, you’ll gain honest insights and inspiration for your own succession planning.
Where are you on your career path?
Everyone’s journey into taking over the family business is different. Perhaps you’re thinking about your role for the first time, are already making concrete preparations to join the business, or are already taking on responsibility within the family business. The key is to ask the right questions at your current stage and to plan your next steps carefully.
You’re wondering whether joining the family business is the right fit for you and what role might suit you?
Your next step:
Clarify your own goals, expectations, and options.
Suitable for you:
Succession planning · NextGen profiles · personal coaching
You would like to take on responsibility, but the timing, role, and path into the company haven’t yet been finalied?
Your next step:
Plan your entry into the business, career path, and the skills you will need.
Suitable for you:
Succession planning · courses and workshops · NextGen community
You have taken on your first tasks or a leadership role and want to find your feet, gain confidence and drive change.
Your next step:
Consolidate your role, expand your responsibilities and play an active part in shaping the transition.
Suitable for you:
Further training · personal coaching · NextGen Club
You bear responsibility for the family business without being actively involved in its day-to-day running.
Your next step:
To fulfil your role as a shareholder professionally and make well-informed decisions.
Suitable for you:
Shareholder training · advisory board expertise · networking with other owners
Roles, responsibilities and the timeline have not yet been sufficiently clarified. There may be conflicting expectations between the different generations.
Your next step:
Develop a viable handover plan and establish clear structures for the family and the business.
A good fit for you:
Succession planning · owner strategy · governance consulting
Every succession path is different. Some phases overlap, others repeat. What matters is asking the right questions at the right time.
Succession planning for NextGens
Clarity on your role and the transition
Succession involves two things: ability and willingness. That is why good succession planning does not begin with a ready-made model, but with the right questions.
Would you like to take on an operational role in the family business? Do you see your role more as a shareholder, on the advisory board or within the family office? What level of responsibility suits your skills, your goals and your life plans? And how can the transition be structured so that both the family and the business benefit in the long term?
Together, we’ll develop a personalised plan for your path to succession. In doing so, we’ll consider not only your personal development, but also the structures within the family and the business.
Typical questions in succession consulting
- Which role suits me?
- Which further experience and skills do I need?
- When is the right time to get involved?
- How can responsibilities and decision-making powers be handed over gradually?
- How long should the handover phase last?
- How will siblings and non-operational shareholders be involved?
- What governance structures will the family business need in the future?
The result is not an off-the-shelf succession plan, but a path that suits you, your family, and your company.
Professional development for NextGens
Be well prepared to take on responsibility
A position of responsibility within a family business is not determined by family background alone. It requires specialist knowledge, an understanding of business, and the confidence to make sound decisions even in difficult situations.
Our courses and workshops are designed to help you prepare specifically for your future role – whether you wish to join the business in an operational capacity, take on responsibility as a shareholder, or serve on an advisory board.
Topics covered include:
- the unique characteristics of family businesses and entrepreneurial families
- finding your own role and personal development
- leadership, communication and collaboration
- strategy, finance and corporate management
- shareholder competence and governance
- dealing with conflicts and differing expectations
- intergenerational collaboration
You will learn not only from experienced speakers, but also from other NextGens who are facing similar decisions or have already taken on responsibility. This allows you to combinein-depth knowledge with practical experience and new perspectives.
connect and network
Learn from other NextGens
Many questions around succession are easier to discuss with people facing similar decisions. How do you make a good start in the family business? How do you handle expectations? How do you carve out a role of your own? And how do you take on responsibility without losing sight of myself?
In the INTES NextGen Community, you will meet successors from other family businesses —from those just starting to explore their options to those already in a leadership or ownership role. Conversations take place in a confidential setting, leaving room for honest exchange, real experiences and fresh perspectives.
This includes, among other things:
- the NextGen Club
- exclusive networking events
- conversations with experienced NextGens and NowGens
- shared learning and reflection sessions
- the annual NextGen Retreat
The result is a network that supports you professionally – and personally.
INSIGHTS and inspiration
Experiences that bring your own path into focus
Succession looks differently in every family business. That makes it all the more valuable to learn how other NextGens found their way in, took on responsibility and made the difficult calls.
Our NextGen profiles, interviews, studies and expert articles offer honest insights into different succession stories. They cover successes and self-doubt, leadership and collaboration, new roles, family expectations – and the question of how tradition and change can work together.
You will find out, among other things:
- how other NextGens found their role
- what experience they gained before joining the family business
- how handovers within the family were handled
- which conflicts and challenges came up along the way
- how new leadership ideas took hold in the business
- why succession does not always mean running the business day to day
This will help you to get a clearer direction, fresh perspectives and ideas you can take back to your own family business
Not sure where you stand?
Together, we’ll find the next step that fits your situation.
Succession has many faces
There is no single right way into the family business. Some NextGens join early, others first gain experience elsewhere first. Some take over as managing director, others shape the business as shareholders, on the advisory board or through the family office.
In our NextGen profiles, successors talk openly about the decisions, doubts, conflicts, and experiences that shaped their path.
Clarity for your next step
NextGen Compact Workshop
You want to find out which role in the family business is right for you – and what your path into succession could look like?
In the NextGen Compact Workshop, you will take a close look at your own goals, expectations, and options. Together with other NextGens, you will develop a clearer picture of the responsibility you want to take on and the next steps that make sense for you.
What the workshop offers:
- space for personal orientation
- ideas on roles, responsibility and succession
- conversations with other NextGens
- practical starting points for your own path
Let’s talk about your next step
Not sure which option is right for you? Nathalie will help you find the right place to start and work out your next steps.
