Singapore

Seniority, precisely

Family office protocol

Family business here is conducted with the manners of a banquet. Seating is seniority and seniority is precise: the host faces the door, the guest of honour sits at the host's right, and a round table is used deliberately, because a round table has no head. Papers are exchanged with two hands, and the oldest person in the room is greeted first, whatever the agenda says.

Banquet hierarchies

A banquet runs on toasts rather than courses. Stand when the host stands, lift the glass with both hands where that is the local form, and follow the seniority of the room rather than its enthusiasm. The host settles the account before the last dish arrives, and nobody at the table is ever shown a bill.

Multi-generational deference

A family office meeting mixes three generations and expects the younger to be introduced first and to speak last. Deference is not silence: a well-brought-up younger member asks one good question, listens to the answer, and does not correct an elder in front of the room. Where the household is Chinese, Malay, Indian or Eurasian, the register differs, and a house that asks once will be told the truth.

Common practice, with regional variation. Never law.