Octavian Graf Pilati, rising generation member of an Austrian princely family, prepared to sell the palace his family had held for over three hundred years. In recent years, the Pilati family lands had been leveraged as loan collateral for an international venture that had become entangled in a case of suspected management fraud. Between banks unwilling to restructure debt obligations, the complexities of multi-jurisdictional legal enforcement, and intransigent family members, Octavian found himself in the impossible position of being tasked with resolving the crisis yet with little formal power to follow through on his designated responsibilities. Realizing he and his family's centuries-long legacy was at an impasse, should the family choose to fully divest its long-held assets in the face of possible financial ruin? Could they bounce back from failure - either in this generation or future ones - or should future generations seek to start anew?

Shinya Deguchi, Founder and Managing Partner of Star Magnolia Capital, a Shanghai-based multi-family office (MFO), considered how to convince a new prospective family that the MFO's endowment model approach would best suit their needs. In recent decades, there has been a rapid growth of Chinese high net worth individuals, and mainland China faced a shortage of services available to their families. Deguchi believed that Star Magnolia would not only help the MFO's families build wealth over generations through the endowment approach but also possessed the capability to recruit the top and most diligent investment managers in the field. How could he introduce and convince the family of his conviction? In what cases did Star Magnolia offer a competitive advantage as a MFO over individual SFOs? Furthermore, as the MFO continued to grow, how could all member families ensure that their interests remained aligned into the future? At the end of the day, what 'pitch' could Deguchi offer to win the family over?

Fernando Scodro, a third-generation member of his family, mulled over the next step in integrating an ESG strategy into his family office's investment portfolio. While his family office, Grupo Baobá, had made excellent progress in incorporating his family's values into their individually owned assets, such as VC and real estate, he weighed how to expand their ESG strategy in future investments. How should the family evaluate the relative benefits of an asset's return on investment versus return on impact? What would a forward-looking ESG strategy look like for his family - and other families who were their co-investment partners? How could Fernando convince external partners of his strategy's imperative and cultivate like-minded managers and financial products to achieve his goals? Finally, when should the family instead prioritize achieving impact through philanthropic initiatives? However he chose, he knew that the paths he advocated for within his family would impact all future generations of the Grupo Baobá Family Office.

André Hoffmann is a leader of one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. His exceptional tenure in philanthropy over the past several decades, including being president of the WWF and the vice-president of the MAVA Foundation, has allowed him access to a far broader scope of the field than most philanthropists can have in a lifetime. Through these experiences, he has indicated a set of key factors that cause philanthropy and social impact efforts to fail, both consistently and silently, and that threaten the future of the planet in the wake of such time-sensitive global issues as climate change, resource overuse, and ecological destruction. His plan to fix the system involved a fundamental restructuring of not only philanthropy, but of the broader business landscape itself, including a dramatic reframing of how we understand cash flows and profits across industries. The measures cannot come from one body alone, and will require immense cooperation of enterprises if the world is meant to ever stand a chance.

Vivian Yuan seeks to bolster the Tsinghua University Education Foundation's fundraising efforts and investment goals in a new era of Chinese higher education. Competing with elite members of China's C9 League of top universities, she must develop a set of incentives and deliverables for alumni and non-affiliated donors which can bridge the gaps in their own investment and philanthropic prospects. To do so, she must specify what makes the university unique as a donation opportunity, and highlight the things TUEF can accomplish that no one else can.

China Merchants Bank, the sixth-largest lender in China, intends to boost its family office business as a result of an increase in the population of ultra-high net worth individuals. Already ranked China's number-one private bank with AUM exceeding US$300 billion, the Bank is exploring different ways to cater to the demand from newly minted billionaires and their families, and to maintain its competitiveness in retaining these customers amid fierce competition with domestic and foreign banks. Management also needs to brace for an emerging trend in which super-affluent families opt to reduce their reliance on traditional bankers by setting up independent family offices. The case raises issues in segmentation of private banking, change in organization design, and devising strategies for target customers and value creation.