John Law was perhaps the only economist who could actually put his theories into practice. With dubious success; the bubble he created in 18th century France, in part with the help of his Mississippi Company, burst spectacularly. Jürg Müller, Senior Fellow and Head of Research “Infrastructure & Markets” at the think tank Avenir Suisse, is nevertheless fascinated by the mathematical talent and analytical skills of the Scotsman, who notably also succeeded as a gambler and made it into the highest political circles as a convicted murderer.

Jürg Müller explains to host Hannah Wise how John Law turned debt into money and how this principle still shapes the financial world today. As co-author of the book The End of Banking, he has extensively studied the “wiring” of the banking world and developed a proposal on how future crashes could be prevented.

In a way, Albert Einstein could see into the future. That fascinated Sita Mazumder even before she started kindergarten. For the Swiss IT economist and entrepreneur, he still embodies the ability to leave the beaten path. As a professor of business and IT at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Sita Mazumder conducts research on artificial intelligence at the interface of business and society and develops sustainable business models for the digital age.

She explains to host Hannah Wise what “digital” means for the old economy in particular. She emphasizes openness to FinTechs – and the importance of trust. Today’s technology-based customer journeys are based on trust more than ever. Cryptocurrencies are a case in point. Is this an opportunity for trustworthy companies like SIX?

Who isn’t familiar with the button in the ear of teddy bears and other cuddly plush animals? Margarete Steiff founded a stuffed-animal company known the world over. For a girl born in the mid-19th century, such a career was anything but predestined, all the more so since she was diagnosed with polio in her infancy. But her disability never deterred her from fighting for her education and achieving true mastery as a seamstress.

Andrea Weidemann, the director of the Swiss Finance Museum in the SIX headquarters building, has a flair for entrepreneurial stories like these. She describes to host Hannah Wise how she brings historical securities to life in the first and only finance museum in Switzerland – a country known for its banks – and explains why financial literacy is so important.

Jeff Bezos has repeatedly succeeded in branching out into adjacent sectors. The online bookseller Amazon was transformed into a media store, and from that into a marketplace for everything imaginable and later even into a supplier of cloud hosting services. Amazon accomplished that by constantly building on what it already had in place. 

The Financial Information business at SIX is in a similar position. Sam Sundera, the Head Future Business in the respective business unit tells host Hannah Wise where SIX, too, has opportunities to make inroads into adjacent sectors, and it, too, can build on its achievements – with  ESG data or historical corporate actions data in the cloud, for example.

Aspects of the way Johan Cruyff played and coached are still visible today on many club and national soccer teams. He was a technically gifted player who did things with his feet that nobody else could. But what really set him apart was his understanding of teamwork and his leadership skills.

His abilities found expression in his conceptualization of “total football”, a system under which any outfield player can adopt the role of any other player. Under this philosophy, defenders, for example, also take over as attackers. SIX CEO Jos Dijsselhof tells host Hannah Wise how he internalized this type of culture in which collaboration is more important than individual talent and how it is lived at SIX.