In the section Backstage, interesting personalities from the financial sector and beyond provide insights into their personal preferences every Wednesday.

What do you do first in the morning?

Feed the cats. Our three Maine Coons have very clear ideas about priorities and hierarchy.

What is the best thing about your job?

As a crime writer, I can commit crimes in the morning and play golf or go skiing in the afternoon – without having to worry about anyone catching on to me.

A moment that changed your life?

Sitting opposite my future wife on my first day at the cantonal school in Trogen. Some decisions you make yourself, while others simply sit down in front of you one morning …

What cars do you own? Which is your favorite?

I immediately forwarded the question of any potential revenue share to England, but have yet to receive a reply.

What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?

Don’t listen to the old know-it-all. Go your own way.

What are you particularly proud of?

My 20 Ironman medals. Quite literally hard-earned.

What do you do when you have doubts?

Keep working, keep going. Doubts and problems rarely get any smaller if you simply sit there staring at them.

What is your favorite wine?

One I drink with the right people. That said, a fine wine from the Bolgheri region or Bordeaux immediately makes you view your dinner companions a little more favorably.

What projects are you currently working on?

My ninth novel – and I am also planning a longer writing residency abroad for it. Writing has an inconvenient habit: no sooner has one book been published than the next one starts making noise in your head.

What do you admire in other people?

People who stand by their principles, even when there is no applause for doing so.

What would be the biggest surprise for someone who had to take over your job for a day?

That the page will still be blank in the evening if you haven’t written anything. And that writing consists to a surprisingly large extent of deleting, discarding and doubting – and to a surprisingly small extent of champagne and book launches.

What is your personal drive?

Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. I want to know what lies around the next corner – in life just as much as in my books. Although with the latter, I can at least occasionally influence what happens.

What are you afraid of?

When it comes to myself, I am surprisingly fearless. If something were not to work out, it would at most be a disappointment – the end of an illusion, so to speak. I only know fear in the sense of being afraid for someone when it concerns other people.

Your favorite watch brand?

My second family name is Portuguese. So the IWC Portugieser was almost obligatory.

Is there an unfulfilled dream you would still like to realize?

To have one of my novels made into a film. I spent many years working in an Anglo-Saxon environment, and at least one thing has stayed with me from that time: there is nothing wrong with dreaming a little bigger.

Your best investment?

Looking back, the time I deliberately invested has always generated the best returns: time for my family, time for my career, time for education and further training, and time for myself.

Andreas Russenberger (1968) studied history and political science at the University of Zurich and completed further education programmes in St. Gallen and at Stanford. For many years, he headed the global wealth management business of a major bank. Today, he is a writer and president of thes Swiss Authors' Association. His books have been nominated for literary awards and regularly feature on bestseller lists. Russenberger lives in Arosa. His eighth novel, «Zürich City», was published in September.