Secondly a lot of professional skills are required : technical skills as product and client knowledge, management skills and personal skills. Emotional intelligence has become very important for a family business leader.

Next it is important that a successor demonstrates real leadership skills which entails also that he is a visionary entrepreneur.

Last but not least the successor must demonstrate commitment and respect for the family.

Just as important as the competence is the motivation of the successor. Successions work out a great deal better when the candidate-successor has a strong desire to lead the family business and also finds this a fascinating challenge. Moreover, the successor must have had the freedom to choose to join the family business.

Once officially designated as successor, the representative of the next generation is confronted with a new challenge. He must prove himself as the new leader. This does not always go smoothly, because the successor generally finds himself in the phase of succession where he shares the management of the family business with the incumbent leader.

The great challenge for the successor is to strike a proper balance between continuity of the management on the one hand and innovation on the other. Such innovation obviously entails a risk of conflicts with the incumbent leader. Some people believe that crises are unavoidable. Yet only a minority of successors achieve credibility by resolutely innovating. Frequently it is more successful not to make all-too sudden changes, but to introduce innovations around an axis of continuity. In this way, the family network - which is based on trust - remains intact, and the successor will also run into less resistance from the incumbent leader.