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A BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
WINNER – SILVER MEDAL, AXIOM BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2018

FOREWORD BY NOURIEL ROUBINI


SuperHubs is a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the global financial system and the powerful personal networks through which it is run, at the centre of which sit the Elites – the SuperHubs.

Combining an insider’s knowledge with principles of network science, Sandra Navidi offers a startling new perspective on how the financial system really operates.

SuperHubs reveals what happens at the exclusive, invitation-only platforms – The World Economic Forum in Davos, the meetings of the International Monetary Fund, think-tank gatherings, power lunches, charity events, and private parties. This is the most vivid portrait to date of the global elite: the bank CEOs, fund managers, billionaire financiers and politicians who, through their interlocking relationships and collective influence are transforming the future of our financial system and, for better or worse, shaping our world.

What's Inside

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Reviews

PROFESSOR JÜRGEN STARK, former Chief Economist of the European Central Bank
Exceedingly illuminating professional and personal insights into the global financial system. Highly recommendable reading.
PROFESSOR KLAUS SCHWAB, Founder and Chairman of the World Economic Forum
SuperHubs-what a clever concept! Sandra Navidi impresses with a masterful piece of both reporting and analysis.
STEPHEN A. SCHWARZMAN, Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder, Blackstone, and Chairman of U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum
Sandra Navidi provides an entertaining and absorbing portrayal of the networks used by many of the top executives in finance. She draws many useful conclusions and provides terrific portraits of some of the major players in finance today.
HIS EXCELLENCY, MR. SHAUKAT AZIZ, former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Pakistan, former CEO of Citibank Global Wealth Management
SuperHubs is an analytical, engaging and insightful guide. It is a must read for all who are striving for growth and excellence!
PROFESSOR NOURIEL ROUBINI, Professor of Economics and International Business, Stern School of Business; CEO, Roubini Macro Associates, and Bestselling Author
An intimate glimpse into the obscure world of high finance ... [that] should be voraciously consumed by anyone in business.
PROFESSOR IAN BREMMER, Founder and President of Eurasia Group
SuperHubs offers new insight into those with the power to change the world.
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, American entrepreneur; Assistant to President Donald J. Trump and Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs
A colorful picture of our financial world and the tremendously powerful titans who are in charge of it. A fun and very useful book!
BORIS COLLARDI, CEO of Bank Julius Bär
SuperHubs offers a balanced analysis of the system's driving forces and raises controversial issues regarding the far-reaching impact of a few all-powerful individuals, addressing the fundamental aspects of the complex human dynamics ruling finance and the world. A spirited and riveting book that makes for an intriguing read.
PROFESSOR STEVE KEEN, Head, School of Economics, Politics & History, Kingston University London
Navidi shows how networks ... are crucial. Her writing blends personal anecdote and wry observation with a sound grasp of the science of complex self-organizing systems, making SuperHubs a uniquely intelligent and engaging insight into financial power.
PROFESSOR DIMITAR D. SASSELOV, Phillips Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University, Director, Harvard Origins of Life Initiative
SuperHubs is dedicated to a vitally important topic: the state of our financial system and its implications for society. If you want to understand how our world works this book is for you.
PROFESSOR DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at City University of New York
Navidi will be remembered as the woman who revealed how the 1% maintain their plutocracy.
PARAG KHANNA, Senior Research Fellow Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Readers will recognize how the relations of those who pull the levers of global power are the bonds of influence that shape the world.
BILL BROWDER, Co-founder and CEO Hermitage Capital Management and human rights activist
SuperHubs deftly takes the reader through the global and societal consequences of those people's relationships, power and money.
HANS DEMMEL, CEO n-tv (RTL Group)
SuperHubs is indispensable for readers who want to understand the financial world's dynamics. Her fascinating insider's perspective reveals complex linkages among the financial elite and the resulting far-reaching consequences. SuperHubs is a blockbuster!
PROFESSOR MAX OTTE, University of Applied Sciences Worms, head of the Cologne-based IFVE Institut für Vermögensentwicklung GmbH
We will see how financial oligarchs have instrumentalized most governments to realize their interests. We are very far away from reform. SuperHubs demonstrates, how far off.
PROFESSOR THOMAS MAYER, former Chief Economist of Deutsche Bank Group; Head of Deutsche Bank Research
SuperHubs vividly describes how homogeneous alpha males maximize their opportunities. Readers will wish that this type of financial elite will disappear, or at the very least, include more women.
DIRK MÜLLER, financial markets expert
An absorbing portrayal of the financial elite's self-perpetuating power structures. SuperHubs is a definite "buy"!
ROBERT SALZL, Member of the Foundation Board and Senior Adviser, Schörghuber Stiftung & Co. Holding KG
Navidi has thoughtfully determined that a few powerful people rule the world with their extensive networks. May SuperHubs inspire them to make it a more humane and peaceful place.
ANNETTE HEUSER, CEO, Professor Otto Beisheim Foundation
Navidi describes vividly and without taboos how the financial elite have created their own cosmos and why it is about time to scrutinize the rules upon which this system is based.
PROFESSOR LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS, Harvard; former US Secretary of the Treasury, former Director of the US National Economic Council
In SuperHubs, Ms. Navidi skillfully applies network science to the global financial system and the human networks that underpin it. SuperHubs is a topical and relevant book that should be read by anyone seeking a fresh perspective on the human endeavor that is our financial system.
OLAFUR RAGNAR GRIMSSON, President of Iceland 1996-2016
How are we governed? By whom and how? These are the classical questions which globalization and financial markets have given a new urgency. This book provides a front row seat in the theater of fundamental change.
THE HONORABLE GEORGETTE MOSBACHER, Entrepreneur
An expert tour guide, Ms. Navidi helps us understand the mechanisms that drive our global financial system by ultimately telling a human story of how a select few wield incredible financial and political power. SuperHubs is a substantive book with just the right balance of research and stories to make it an entertaining and satisfying read.
PROFESSOR EDMUND S. PHELPS, Columbia University, 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics
Sandra Navidi's book $uperHubs is beautifully and effectively done. Not only is it a fascinating description of the power wielded by elite networks over the financial sector, it is also a meditation on the consequences of this system for the economy and the society. In recent times, we have seen extraordinary ruptures - notably Britain's vote to break away from the European Union and the intensified sense of exclusion felt by much of America's working class. The last chapter of $uperHubs proposes that this ruling system's "monoculture," its isolation from the rest of society, and its seeming unawareness of the fragility of what it has built are largely responsible for these ruptures, and that the system may lead to a major crisis in the future.
AART DE GEUS, Chairman and CEO, Bertelsmann Stiftung
This book is unique in describing and analyzing the human behavior in the upper circles of the global financial system. I agree with the author that unethical behavior has aggravated the increasing wealth gap and social stratification, and thus has fundamentally shaken society's trust in our financial system. The need for political action to save banks in the crisis of 2008, made clear that the financial system is a not just a private sector but also a common good. It is this orientation on the common good and the wellbeing of ordinary people that has to be included in capitalism at large and the financial sector in particular. This book will empower readers to advocate for change.