Discover 3 little-known books every leader should read—featuring lessons from Swissair’s WWII survival, the American Civil War, and mountain life simplicity.
Reading is one of my favorite pastimes, and it fuels my thinking as an entrepreneur. Besides reading magazines, I try to read books on various topics as often as I can.
Here are the books I read last month.
1. An Airline During World War II
Swissair 1939–1945 by Alfred Muser tells the story of Switzerland’s national airline during World War II. Although Switzerland was spared from the war, Swissair fought for its existence during this period.
When I read the book, I saw many parallels between the era of World War II and our current times: A collapsing market and huge uncertainty are poisonous to any business. As the Founder & CEO of Yonder, a B2B SaaS company serving the aviation market, I had many déjà-vus when reading this book: It reminded me of our struggle during COVID-19, and of the current geopolitical uncertainties induced by Donald Trump’s trade war.
On the other hand, this book is a great reminder that earlier generations were facing much harder times than we are and that they were still able to find good solutions in very desperate situations.
In good times, focus is key for all entrepreneurs. In dire times, however, a good solution can be to lose focus a little bit and muddle through on revenues earned by activities that aren’t core business. That’s exactly what Swissair did during World War II — they muddled through by fixing planes and other machinery with the remainder of their workforce that wasn’t on active military duty.
2. The Growing Up of A Statesman
Flegeljahre by Carlo von Ah tells the story of Emil Frey (1838–1922), the son of a magistrate and a troublemaker. He would later participate in the American Civil War before returning to Switzerland, his home country, to become a magistrate himself.
The 19th century was a very turbulent epoch for both Switzerland and the United States. Just like the book on Swissair, the story of Emil Frey shows striking parallels to our current times.
What stands out much more in this book is the way defeated enemies were treated in the 19th century.
During Switzerland’s Sonderbund War, General Dufour treated the defeated regions with such dignity that the Confederation was able to reunite after the war.
In the American Civil War, too, the defeated Southerners were treated in such a way that the Union could continue to exist.
Besides the epoch’s world events, Emil Frey also struggled with various conflicts within his own family and with family members who had fallen out of favor. In these conflicts, too, Emil Frey created a setting for reconciliation — at least in this historical novel.
Shouldn’t we rethink how we treat “defeated” opponents? History is once again an instructive guide.
3. The Simple Life of 1900
Last month, I spent three days in Zermatt cut off from the outside world, half of that time without electricity.
I took advantage of the enforced break to read the biography of Ulrich Inderbinen, a famous mountain guide who hailed from Zermatt.
The book gives an impressive account of the simple, hard life of the Zermatt mountain farmers at the beginning of the 20th century.
One quote from Ulrich Inderbinen stands out in particular:
“Life used to be hard, but beautiful. Everyone had little, and everyone helped each other.”
This solidarity was noticeable in Zermatt during the blackout: the good cooperation between the authorities, tourism organizations, hotels, and the population made things far less tragic than if everyone had just cared for themselves.
One for all, all for one.
