Suicide highlights Swiss executive stress

The latest suicide of a top executive in Switzerland has focused attention on the affluent Alpine country and the stresses placed on senior managers, their ability to cope with a sudden job loss, and whether Swiss society creates particular pressures for them.  Zurich Insurance has announced that Martin Senn, its former chief executive, has taken his own life, six months after he quit the Swiss insurer under a cloud. His death came three years after Pierre Wauthier, then Zurich’s finance director, also took his own life. Other high profile suicides include Carsten Schloter, chief executive of telecoms company Swisscom. In 2008, Alex Widmer, chief executive of Julius Baer, the Swiss private bank, also took his life. Those who knew him said Senn had difficulties coping with his sudden altered status. The upheaval could have contributed to depression, experts said. “If you are high in a hierarchy and have a dominant psychology, and you define your life ...