The Zurich Axioms: The rules of risk and reward used by generations of Swiss bankers

by Gunther Max

Worry is an integral part of life’s grandest enjoyments. Love affairs, for instance. If you are afraid to commit yourself and take personal risks, you will never fall in love. Your life may then be as calm as a tidal pool, but who wants it? Another example: sports. An athletic event is an episode in which athletes, and vicariously spectators, deliberately expose themselves to jeopardy – and do a powerful lot of worrying about it. It is a minor adventure for most of the spectators and a major one for the athletes. It is a situation of carefully created risk. We wouldn’t attend sports events and other contests if we didn’t get some basic satisfaction out of them. We need adventure. Perhaps we need tranquility at times too. But we get plenty of that at night when we sleep – plus, on most days, another couple of hours at odd times while we are awake. Eight or ten hours out of twenty-four ought to be enough.