When Greed Fuels Risk

A Pirate’s Tale

When working in wealth management, family offices, or luxury services, one quickly observes two distinct profiles among professionals and leaders. You’ll forgive me for borrowing from maritime vocabulary: there are pirates, and there are captains.

Pirates are primarily motivated by immediate personal gain. They excel at identifying and exploiting tensions, governance gaps, and regulatory gray zones. Their approach is opportunistic: they don’t hesitate to leverage internal conflicts or client vulnerabilities to maximize their own interests. Their horizon is often reduced, focused on the transaction rather than the lasting relationship.

Captains, on the other hand, build their influence over time. They develop structures, establish clear processes, and rely on long-term strategic vision. Their legitimacy rests on their ability to stay the course, to unite teams around common objectives, and to navigate complexity with rigor and transparency.

Seen from this angle, the choice seems obvious. What leader, what family business executive wouldn’t prefer to surround themselves with captains rather than pirates? Many claim to take all necessary precautions to avoid these opportunistic profiles.

Yet reality tells a different story. My experience, along with numerous testimonials from colleagues working with (U)HNW clientele, reveals that pirates are far more numerous than we’d like to admit. They thrive particularly in certain environments: offshore jurisdictions favored for tax optimization, emerging markets where regulation remains unclear, or in complex succession contexts where family tensions create opportunities.

Their method? They infiltrate during periods of vulnerability. A poorly prepared succession, conflict among heirs, a liquidity crisis, or simply a client’s greed in pursuing maximum returns at any cost. Every weakness in governance, every compromise on principles becomes an entry point for these actors who, gradually, can gain the upper hand and steer decisions in their own interest.

Too Narrow a View of Risk

In our sector, we constantly discuss risk management. But what risk are we really talking about? Discussions almost always revolve around external threats: market volatility, geopolitical risks, counterparty due diligence, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance. These concerns are legitimate and require constant attention.

However, this focus on the external causes us to lose sight of an equally critical dimension: internal risk. And I’m not just talking about classic operational risks or internal control failures. The real internal risk, the one rarely discussed, lies within the people who make up your circle of trust.

We sometimes hear that the greatest threats come from those who are close: partners, long-standing advisors, even family members. This observation is already relevant, but it doesn’t go far enough.

The Question No One Asks

Before scrutinizing your entourage, before analyzing your advisors’ motivations or questioning your close collaborators’ loyalty, a more fundamental question deserves to be asked: and you, which side are you on?

As a leader, wealth creator, family office founder, or heir to family assets, what profile do you truly embody? Are your decisions guided by a long-term vision and collective interest, or by maximizing short-term personal gain? Do you accept ethical compromises when the opportunity seems too good? Do you use your position to circumvent rules you impose on others?

This introspection is uncomfortable, but it’s essential. Because there’s a truth that every experienced professional knows: a pirate recognizes another pirate. Opportunistic profiles have a particular talent for identifying flaws, not just in systems, but especially in the character of those around them.

If your own approach to business favors opportunism over consistency, if your greed trumps your prudence, if you systematically seek regulatory loopholes rather than solid solutions, you’re sending a signal. And that signal invariably attracts other pirates. You create an environment where these behaviors become the norm, where authentic captains eventually leave, making way for those who share your short-term vision.

Rethinking Risk Management

True risk management begins with an honest assessment of one’s own posture. This involves questioning:

Your decision criteria: Do you systematically favor maximum returns at the expense of security and sustainability? Are you willing to take shortcuts when the opportunity arises?

Your partner selection: Do you choose your advisors and collaborators based on their ability to challenge you and maintain high standards, or rather on their docility and creativity in circumventing obstacles?

Your governance: Have you established structures that limit your own discretionary power, or do you prefer to keep all the cards in hand to maximize your flexibility?

Your conflict management: When facing family tension or strategic disagreement, do you seek to exploit it to strengthen your position, or to build lasting consensus?

These questions are not rhetorical. They determine, far more than any external due diligence system, the quality and sustainability of your wealth and family structures.

So, Pirate or Captain?

Don’t let your own greed, blind spots, or character weaknesses become the breaches through which others rush in. The best protection against pirates isn’t a more sophisticated external control system, but internal clarity about your own values and operating mode.

Perhaps it’s time for everyone to question their true nature and reconsider their risk management from this angle. Because ultimately, you will only attract and retain those who resemble you.

This article was written in French by a human, and has been translated with the help of AI. See the original version here.