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Forbes
10-08-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Inside-Out Risk: When The Threat Isn't A Hacker Or Headline, But Your Own Structure
In the built environment, structural failures rarely start with storms. They begin with something invisible. A misaligned beam. A flaw in the foundation. Over time, these quiet compromises add up, until one day, the weight is too much. Family offices can suffer the same fate. The vulnerabilities that do the most damage are not always external. They live within the walls. And they are often overlooked. While the headlines focus on AI-driven cyberattacks and deepfake fraud, the most enduring risk to long-term wealth continuity is much more mundane: governance without clarity, decisions without structure, and cultures built on loyalty rather than accountability. This year's Family Office Risk & Security Report 2025 brings this into sharp relief. When asked what threatens continuity most, families and advisors did not cite hackers or hostile media. They pointed inward. Over-dependence on individuals, unclear authority, and a lack of next-gen readiness topped the list. And perhaps that is the real warning: that the greatest risks do not always breach the perimeter. They come from assumptions we have never questioned. Risk rarely announces itself. Sometimes, it simply fills a vacuum. Family offices are, by nature, high-trust environments. Relationships are long-standing. Roles are fluid. A CFO may also serve as a gatekeeper. An assistant might act as chief organiser, scheduler, and informal fixer. Founders often function as the gravity centre of it all. In many ways, this is a strength. It allows for discretion, agility, and intimacy. But when critical knowledge and decision authority are concentrated in one person, the office is exposed to what is often called key person risk, ****the possibility that the departure, absence, or compromise of a single individual disrupts operations or continuity. What happens when that individual retires? Or falls ill? Or makes an error that no one else is positioned to catch? As Oriane Cohen, founder of OC Strategic Advisory, explains in the report, 'It's not just about what happens when something goes wrong. It's about whether the system is even built to notice.' The same applies to decision rights. In the absence of documented authority, who gets to make the call? Who gets to override it? And how does the family know that governance isn't just symbolic, but operational? Culture without clarity is not a strength. It is a blind spot. There is a common belief among legacy families that formalising governance erodes culture. That writing things down makes them transactional. That transparency reduces trust. But culture and structure are not opposites. They are partners. Structure gives culture its shape, and culture gives structure its soul. Michael Macfarlane, an advisor to family offices navigating generational transitions, points out that risk often accumulates not from malice or neglect, but from habit. 'Most families don't notice the problem,' he says. 'Because everything seems to work. Until it doesn't.' This is especially true in founder-led environments, where the lines between family, ownership, and management are blurred. Decisions happen fast, informally, and often with good intent. But speed can't replace succession. And intent is no substitute for infrastructure. Governance, done right, is not a constraint. It is an act of stewardship. It is what allows families to make decisions across time, not just in the moment, but with continuity in mind. What protects you is not policy. It is posture. The best-run family offices are not the most complex or the most expensive. They are the most aligned. They do not wait for crisis to create clarity. They operate with decision architecture that is as clear internally as it is compliant externally. This often starts with scenario planning. Not just for liquidity or geopolitical shifts, but for personnel changes. Who is essential? What is undocumented? Which risks would only become visible once it is too late? In this context, governance works like insurance. It protects against uncertainty, reducing the chance of operational failure and limiting the impact when it occurs. Just as a sound structure is paired with cyber liability, Directors and Officers (D&O) insurance, or key person cover, governance and insurance together form complementary layers of protection. In some offices, red-teaming exercises, often used in cybersecurity, are now being applied to operational risk. In others, crisis simulation workshops are exposing gaps in decision flow and communication chains. But beyond the tools, what matters most is the mindset. That governance is not a reaction to risk, but a way of respecting complexity. That trust is not diminished by structure, it is made possible by it. The biggest risk may not be external. It may be cultural stagnation. One of the quieter findings in this year's report was how few offices conduct internal audits of decision rights. Not financial audits, those are standard. But clarity audits. Authority audits. Succession simulations. It is no longer enough to assume things will run as they have. The scale of risk is growing, but so is the scale of responsibility. Family offices now manage assets, staff, brand narratives, and digital footprints across multiple jurisdictions. With this comes exposure. Linden Baker of Legendary, who advises clients on reputational resilience, puts it plainly: 'You cannot manage risk if you don't know where it lives. And increasingly, it lives in unspoken places, in what families assume will always work.' In this sense, resilience is not built in response to the last crisis. It is built by interrogating the calm. What are we not seeing? What are we relying on too heavily? And what might happen if that changed? Clarity is not bureaucracy. It is respect. There is no single governance model that fits every family. Some prefer lean teams. Others build full institutional backbones. But all resilient offices share one trait: they do not mistake familiarity for preparedness. They document. They align. They rehearse. Because in a world where risk moves faster than ever, the most dangerous threats are no longer dramatic. They are quiet. They live in the background. And they are waiting, if not to strike, then to be ignored. It is easy to focus on the outside world. But the offices that will thrive in the years ahead are those willing to turn inward. Not for control, but for continuity. Not to fix a crisis, but to make sure the foundations are built to last.
Forbes
14-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Your Building Is Talking. Here's How To Listen With AI And Automation
Riaz Raihan is SVP & Chief Digital Officer at Trane Technologies. Why the big push toward digitization in the built environment? What aspects of a building have the most potential for positive operational and environmental impact? What does long-term value truly look like? In an era where buildings' energy management and cost efficiency are paramount, these questions are increasingly relevant. Rising energy rates and a significant shift from equipment and services-based needs to broader outcome-driven demand make finding answers crucial. Despite breakthrough innovation over the last several years, buildings still can't actually speak to us. They do, however, constantly give us non-verbal cues through technologies like AI and autonomous controls. These digitization solutions can significantly reduce buildings' operating costs and their carbon footprint. So, the question to ask is: Your building is talking, but do you know how to listen? The Discreet Cool Factor We've all heard how cool, cutting-edge technologies like AI and autonomous controls are enhancing productivity, efficiency and decision-making across nearly every sector. It's easy, and warranted, to get excited about them, especially in the built environment. As I've seen in my role as senior vice president and chief digital officer at Trane Technologies, AI and automation are being practically applied in HVAC systems to support outcome-based performance. And for good reason, as more than 50% of a building's operating cost can be attributed to its heating, ventilation and cooling. However, digital technologies require significant power to sustain and advance their capabilities, increasing strain on our grids and energy consumption. As such, we can't fall into the trap of implementing digital just because it's trendy. The true allure of digitization and AI in the built environment lies in their ability to deliver operational cost savings, emissions reductions and optimal performance, which I see as their most discreet cool factor. Interpreting Your Buildings' Non-Verbal Cues This is where your buildings' non-verbal cues and your ability to "listen" become critically important. Digitally enabled AI technologies like autonomous controls can help us look at both structured data (building layout, indoor temperatures, equipment specifications) and unstructured data (weather patterns and forecasts, pollution data, occupancy patterns) to optimize buildings' energy performance. As AI-enabled building controls learn how to respond to changing conditions, including energy pricing fluctuations, they can autonomously optimize energy performance and enable cost-effective predictive maintenance. I like to frame this in the context of streaming platforms, which regularly feed us new and interesting content, showcasing the value of our monthly subscriptions—so much so that we are often compelled to set them on auto-renew. But what happens when the content becomes stale? If you go weeks without anything new catching your eye, you start doubting its value, right? You might even cancel one subscription and opt for another. The same mindset can be true for the built environment, but that's also where digital enablement drives significant value—by reading and acting on a building's non-verbal cues. Technologies like digital twins, building automation systems and autonomous controls capture real-time data and advanced analytics—continuously optimizing system performance by enhancing efficiency and reducing energy consumption and operational costs. Leveraging these solutions can help you listen to and understand your buildings while enabling energy and cost savings, demonstrating their ROI and economic viability. In some cases, I've seen energy savings of 25% to 35% and paybacks of 12 to 18 months. Just like streaming platforms continue to feed us fresh and engaging content, proving the worth of their subscription fees, a building's digital technologies also deliver consistent, real-time value. Potential Challenges Turned Successful Outcomes Implementing these technologies requires a comprehensive approach. Additional factors, including data requirements, computing capabilities and internal skills must be considered. The availability of historical energy use data and operational data on a building's HVAC systems and other parameters is critical for identifying patterns and improvement areas. This is a key component of autonomous controls and building automation systems. Access to a building's architectural plans and layouts is also essential for creating accurate digital twins. A robust cloud infrastructure to process large volumes of data and reliable and secure communication protocols for data transmission and storage must also be factored in. But access to information is null if you forget the most important piece of the implementation puzzle: a skilled talent pipeline adept at analyzing data and machine learning techniques to derive actionable insights and reduce latency. While innovative digitization technologies are changing the game for reducing energy demand and emissions across the built environment, prioritizing the talent to advance them is vital. Of course, implementation can still come with challenges, including data integration and system interoperability. Integrating data from a variety of sources (sensors, historical records, occupancy and weather patterns) into a unified system can be complex and time-consuming. Different systems may also use varying formats, making it harder to standardize and harmonize data for analysis. But these potential challenges can be turned into successful outcomes. One important aspect is having a centralized platform capable of aggregating data into a single repository, where data is more easily accessed, managed and analyzed. Driving Demand-Based Outcomes The built environment has seen decades of trends and shifting perspectives from building owners and facility managers. Fifty years ago, the only thing customers cared about was the capital investment needed to install a high-quality HVAC system. Eventually, that progressed to high-quality and well-maintained systems, with good indoor air quality. Today, things look drastically different. Customers demand outcomes, not just equipment that meets their day-to-day heating and cooling needs. They require high-quality, well-maintained, smart and adaptable machines that help reduce emissions, cut costs and optimize energy consumption. This aggregation of behavioral change affirms the growing demand for purpose-driven, sustainable technology that drives energy efficiency and decarbonization. AI and digital technologies can leverage the things that your building and its environment are telling you to drive these outcomes, underscoring the importance of your ability to listen to your building when it's talking to you. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Washington Post
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
D.C.'s Building Museum is now a parkour course. We went. You're welcome.
Late last month, word arrived that the National Building Museum — a temple of architecture, a pantheon of design, the self-described 'leading cultural institution devoted to the history and impact of the built environment' — would be transformed into an oversize parkour playground. You know, parkour, that thing where seemingly grown people jump off ledges and slide down railings as exercise.
South China Morning Post
27-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
No better time than a property slump to ‘future-proof' urban Hong Kong
How do we 'future-proof' Hong Kong's built environment? For the design and construction industry in particular, this could be the most relevant question amid today's grave challenges. In the global environment, military and tariff wars interrupt supply chains and the uncertain economic outlook hinders project investment and financing. These issues are complicated locally by a suspension of commercial land sales, a property market slump and escalating construction costs Advertisement If the worst of times can also be the best of times – to borrow from Charles Dickens – and hope and progress can rise above despair and stagnation, what can we do to future-proof Hong Kong? But first, what does future-proofing mean? According to the non-profit organisation Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the consultancy Arup, which recently released a report on the future-proofing workshop they co-hosted, it means preserving and protecting Hong Kong's infrastructure, systems, products and services while addressing how to leverage our advantages to achieve our development goals. The United Nations might shed some light on what goals to aspire to. In September 2015, all 193 UN member states unanimously adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Several of the 17 goals apply to the living environment, focusing on creating sustainable cities and communities and preserving nature and ecologies. With only five years to 2030, there is a lot to be done for cities, and Hong Kong is no exception. Moreover, Hong Kong is not just any city. We are a financial powerhouse with world-class infrastructure, top-tier universities, a robust and hardworking workforce and forward-thinking leaders, investors and developers. If any city can achieve the SDGs, we should be one of the first to do so. 03:28 Beauty in plain sight: why Hong Kong's public housing estates are worth a closer look Beauty in plain sight: why Hong Kong's public housing estates are worth a closer look Thus we must move from the monovision typical in a capitalist economy towards collaboration.
