Looking back at the 18th wir-Tage on succession and leadership

The 18th wir-Tage took place in Frankfurt from 23 to 24 February 2026, a forum for business families organised by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on the subjects of succession and leadership.

This year's event showed once again how important governance and succession are for the future viability of family businesses. Through the various discussion formats and the openness of the speakers, it also showed how individual the requirements, the approaches and the solutions in family businesses are.

Our contribution on governance

In a deep dive session on governance, our managing director Martin Auer set out how a governance system is built and developed for the differing requirements in the space between family and company.
The central message: effective governance is not a standard model. The scope of governance has to fit the DNA of the company and of the family if it is to work as intended. It develops with the complexity of the company, the shareholder circle and the organisation.

In the space between family and company in particular, it takes structures that give orientation, create clarity and at the same time allow enough flexibility to respond to change. The session worked out how important the right moment for introducing such structures is, how corporate and family governance can be meaningfully interlocked, and what part the owning family plays when it comes to securing succession for the long term and steering the company strategically.

Together we developed concrete approaches for building and developing governance systems, so that leadership and succession are not only planned but successfully delivered.

Valuable impulses for business families

THE MAK'ED TEAM works with mid sized companies and their shareholders to develop the right approaches and arrangements for active steering, leadership and succession. We know what is at stake for family businesses and business families.

Our particular thanks go to everyone who took part in the wir-Tage and to the organisers, who made this event possible with great commitment and high quality.

You can find more information on governance here.

Picture credit: © Dirk Beichert | BusinessPhoto