Switzerland, Asia and the Future of Executive Education - A Conversation with Jürgen Brücker

Interview by Amy Weng • May 18, 2026

Jürgen Brücker, CEO of UZH Executive Education, is direct about where the industry stands: a large part of today’s executive education is no longer fit for purpose. His response is UZH Executive Education's Vision 2030, centred around three words: connect, empower, inspire. At Think East, we are interested in how leaders and institutions build stronger bridges between Europe and Asia. We spoke with Jürgen about the future of executive education, Asia’s growing role in global business, and the role Switzerland can play in an increasingly fragmented world.

Photo: Jürgen Brücker, CEO of UZH Executive Education


Setting the Vision

When you look at the next five to ten years, what shifts do you expect in global executive education, and what role should institutions like UZH play in that transformation?

Executive education is about to fundamentally change, moving from isolated programmes to real learning ecosystems. Leaders today and tomorrow expect orientation, exchange, and relevance in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and less predictable. Executive education needs to close this gap by developing new formats and, importantly, by putting research into real-world context and vice versa. Very few institutions are truly capable of doing that.

Frankly, a large part of today’s executive education is no longer fit for purpose: too slow, too isolated, and too far removed from a reality where AI already supports decision-making.

Our response at UZH Executive Education is clearly defined in our Vision 2030: Connect. Empower. Inspire.

•       Connect: We bring together people, perspectives, and systems, across industries, functions, and regions.

•       Empower: We equip leaders not just with knowledge, but with the ability to make better decisions.

•       Inspire: We create environments where new, pioneering ways of thinking emerge, not as theory, but as lived experience.

For us, this means moving beyond isolated programmes towards a thematic portfolio embedded in an ecosystem that remains relevant over time.


Europe and Asia Connectivity

What does Asia represent to European business leaders today that it did not ten years ago?

Asia is no longer just a market. It is a pace-setter. Many of the developments that European companies are facing today, and even more so in the future, originate in Asia: digital business models, platform economies, and the sheer speed of execution. Europe still systematically underestimates how fast and consistently innovation is developed and implemented in Asia, and is already paying the price.

The conclusion is simple: if you don’t understand Asia, you don’t understand key dynamics of the global economy.

What makes Switzerland an attractive partner or study destination for Asian professionals?

Switzerland stands for trust, quality, and neutrality. These attributes have become a real strategic advantage in an increasingly fragmented world. At the same time, Switzerland offers access to excellent research, strong industry connections, and the ability to bridge different economic and cultural systems. Combined with its central location in Europe, this makes it a highly attractive and globally connected hub.


EABM and International Positioning

What kind of leaders do you want to attract to EABM, and what mindset should they bring?

We are looking for individuals who see themselves not only as participants in organizations, but as proactive contributors to their evolution.

The EABM is designed mainly for young professionals with a strong sense of curiosity, responsibility, and determination to challenge their own perspectives. What matters is not a perfect profile, but the willingness to engage with complexity, to step outside familiar contexts, and to actively shape outcomes rather than simply respond to them.

The most valuable candidates are those who combine intellectual openness with a strong drive for impact. They are interested in understanding systems across regions, industries, and cultures, and in translating that understanding into meaningful action.

In that sense, the program attracts what we would call “global citizens”: individuals who are motivated to grow personally, contribute professionally, and take responsibility for the broader context in which they operate.


How do you see programmes like EABM contributing to stronger Europe and Asia business bridges over time?

Programs like EABM contribute to Europe and Asia connectivity not through abstract knowledge transfer, but through sustained interaction in a shared learning and working environment.

The distinctive element is the integration of real business contexts into the learning journey. Participants do not only study international business relations. They actively work on real-time projects within organizations, often in collaboration with partners across regions. This creates a depth of understanding that cannot be achieved through traditional formats. Trust is not built in classrooms. It is built through shared experience.

In that sense, programs like EABM are not educational products. They are trust infrastructure. When participants from Asia and Europe collaborate over several months, through study and real business projects within a shared ecosystem, a common understanding emerges. And that shared understanding is the foundation for sustainable business relationships.

Over time, this leads to something more fundamental: a network of individuals who have learned to think, decide, and collaborate across systems. These networks evolve into long-term professional relationships between regions.

Ultimately, this is what EABM is about: connection, empowerment, and inspiration across regions.


Photo: University of Zurich


Leadership in a Multipolar World

We are moving into a more complex, multipolar environment. What capabilities will tomorrow’s executives need that today’s leadership development often fails to build?

One of the most critical capabilities will be the ability to remain effective under uncertainty. Many educational formats still suggest that complex problems have clear answers. That is not the reality.

We need to focus much more on judgment, contextual understanding, and systems thinking, while also leveraging AI as a powerful support tool. Leadership today is less about having the right answer. It is about making good decisions under uncertainty.


Technology, AI and the Speed of Change

Asia, and China in particular, is driving innovation in digital ecosystems, AI and platform economies at a pace that surprises many European executives. How should business education respond, and do you think schools need to fundamentally rethink how strategy is taught?

The rules of the game have clearly changed. Strategy used to be something you could plan in a linear way. Today, strategy is a continuous process: highly data-driven and closely linked to technology. Speed is becoming a strategic capability in itself.

Anyone who still treats strategy as a PowerPoint exercise has already lost touch with reality. Executive education must respond accordingly: faster, closer to real-world challenges, and significantly more experimental. Theory still matters, but it must be combined with real work on relevant issues, embedded in a professional ecosystem.


Personal Outlook

On a personal note: what motivates you most about building international programs and partnerships?

What motivates me is building things that would not exist otherwise. Bringing people together, opening perspectives, and enabling real development: that is what drives me. At its core, it always comes back to the same idea I strongly identify with: connect, empower, inspire, just on a global scale.


If you could give one piece of advice to professionals who want to build careers between Europe and Asia, what would it be?

Interestingly enough, my advice has remained exactly the same: go abroad, and stay long enough. Intercultural understanding does not develop in meetings or on short business trips. It comes from truly immersing yourself in another system. And most importantly: learn how to translate between worlds. That will become one of the most valuable leadership capabilities of all.


Are you a leader shaping business between Europe and Asia and want to be featured in our next interview? Get in touch now.

Why a Swiss Premium Brand Is Going Offline in China

By Amy Weng • June 22, 2026
In 2024, I wrote about Alpine White, the Swiss oral care brand founded by Alexander and Reto Wälchli, and its early steps into China: a flagship store on Tmall Global, presence on Xiaohongshu, WeChat and Douyin, and a product registration process that was still underway. Two years on, the picture has changed. The brand, sold in China under the name 乐瑞白 (Lè Ruì Bái), now sits in some of the country's most exclusive supermarkets, at 189 RMB the most expensive toothpaste on the shelf. Behind that shift is Ma Shiyu, who leads Alpine White's APAC business. We spoke shortly after this year's China Beauty Expo. What followed was one of the most candid conversations I have had about what it actually takes to build a premium Swiss brand in China: why Alpine White moved from cross-border e-commerce into general trade and physical retail, where the surprising money sits, and what she would tell every Swiss founder before they book a booth at their first trade fair. This conversation is part of the Think East series Swiss Brands in China, spotlighting successful Swiss brands in the world's most demanding consumer market.

The Experience Is The Product

By Amy Weng • June 8, 2026
In China’s luxury market, a flagship now competes with museums, restaurants and pop culture events for the same two hours of a consumer’s afternoon. The brands winning that competition are not playing by European rules. The store has become one of the most contested ideas in luxury. In China, it now carries a workload that many European flagships still do not. It has to sell, of course. It also has to stage a world, generate traffic, travel across social media, and justify why a consumer should spend an hour there before deciding whether to spend anything at all. That shift is visible in Shanghai. Louis Vuitton opened The Louis in June 2025: a 30-meter, ship-shaped structure designed by Shohei Shigematsu of OMA, housing exhibition space, retail floors, and a café on Nanjing Road. Prada turned Rong Zhai, a restored 1918 mansion it has owned since 2011, into a permanent hospitality address with Mi Shanghai Prada Rong Zhai, its first standalone dining space in Asia, with Wong Kar Wai commissioned to design the interior. Penhaligon’s chose Shanghai for its first fragrance exhibition anywhere in the world, in April 2025. The message is consistent: China is not receiving a standard flagship strategy with local adaptations. It is being used as the testing ground for a different, grander format altogether. The timing is not accidental. Bain estimates that China’s personal luxury market fell 17–19% in 2024 and a further 3–5% in 2025, before returning to modest growth in 2026. Chinese consumers still account for approximately 23% of global luxury demand, per Bernstein. In a market like that, brands do not retreat from visibility. They rethink what visibility has to do. What The Consumer Expects Bluebell Group’s 2025 consumer research found that 96% of surveyed mainland Chinese respondents said experiential value now outweighs product ownership in how they define luxury. 46% want immersive, brand-led experiences in store, with staff actively involved in storytelling. The same study found that 92% prioritise the quality of the product over brand name, and 88% say higher prices are justified when the underlying craft is evident. The appetite for theatre is real. So is the demand for substance underneath it. What a luxury space is expected to deliver has changed accordingly. Narrative density comes first: consumers expect an entire world. Social legibility is equally non-negotiable: the space needs to circulate on Xiaohongshu or Douyin, because store traffic and digital visibility now feed each other directly. And in Asia, Bluebell found that in-store service standards are perceived as higher than elsewhere, which raises the baseline for every international brand operating there. The experiential minimum is a moving target. The New Flagships Louis Vuitton's ship is the clearest statement of the new model. The structure spans approximately 1,600 square metres. Entry is managed through the brand's My LV WeChat mini program: even free admission is controlled. The early returns suggest the model works. According to Wen Wei Po, 60% of sales at The Louis come from new clients – a statistic that directly addresses the industry's central question of whether experience-driven flagships merely entertain existing customers or actually expand the customer base. The impact extends beyond the store itself. In its first four months, the exhibition drew over 360,000 visitors, according to Shanghai government data. Daily foot traffic at The Louis has reached 20,000 on peak weekends, and the surrounding commercial district has seen a clear lift: the adjacent Xingye Taikoo Hui mall recorded a 41.9% increase in retail sales during the first nine months of 2025, while other surrounding businesses reported sales doubling. The ship has effectively become an anchor, transforming Nanjing Road into a destination where a luxury flagship now functions as a catalyst for an entire neighbourhood. Prada’s Rong Zhai shows a different register. Commissioning the iconic Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai to design Mi Shanghai Prada Rong Zhai signals where Prada is locating cultural authority in China: not in European craft narrative, but in Chinese creative identity. The space weaves art, architecture, food and time into a single address. It seems quieter than The Louis, but no less deliberate. According to the Prada Group’s full‑year 2025 earnings, Asia Pacific retail sales reached $1.85 billion, an 11% increase year-on-year. This remains the most relevant proxy for Prada’s performance in Greater China, including the period when the Mi Shang Café at Rong Zhai was operational.

Formula 1 at Full Speed in China

By Amy Weng • March 16, 2026
Formula 1 returned to Shanghai this weekend to a sold-out circuit and 221 million Chinese fans. Luxury brands have been paying close attention. The sport's China moment has arrived. On Sunday afternoon, Kimi Antonelli crossed the finish line at the Shanghai International Circuit to claim his first Formula 1 victory. The youngest Grand Prix polesitter in the sport's history converted pole position into a commanding win before a capacity crowd. Lewis Hamilton took his first podium in Ferrari red at the circuit where, twelve months earlier, he had claimed a sprint victory before a disqualification ended his Grand Prix weekend. The racing was close, unpredictable and genuinely dramatic. In the stands, 220,000 spectators watched a sport that, in China, has become one of the most significant luxury marketing opportunities of the decade. The spectacle on track was compelling. The story in the grandstands is arguably more so. 221 Million Fans and Counting The scale of Chinese F1 fandom is not widely understood outside the industry. According to Formula 1's own 2025 season review, China now has 221 million self-identified fans, second only to Europe as a market, and representing a 39% increase in a single year. This weekend's Grand Prix sold out entirely. Formula 1's Chinese social media platforms, including Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and WeChat, grew 35% in 2025 alone. The profile of the Chinese F1 fan matters as much as the scale. According to Formula 1's 2025 Global Fan Survey, 46% of Chinese fans are female and 40% are aged between 16 and 34. Over half came to the sport within the last five years, most through social media and streaming rather than broadcast television. This is a young, digitally fluent, predominantly urban consumer base that discovered Formula 1 as a cultural phenomenon: something to follow, attend, discuss, and wear. The parallels with China's luxury consumer are not coincidental. They are, to a remarkable degree, the same person: young, urban, educated, spending on experience and identity as much as objects. The F1 fan in China and the luxury consumer in China overlap in ways that the most attentive brands have already begun to act on. What Luxury Brands Understood First In October 2024, LVMH announced a 10-year global partnership with Formula 1, reportedly valued at more than $100 million per year, making it one of the largest sponsorship agreements in the history of sport. Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer, and Moët Hennessy are the three Maisons leading the activation. TAG Heuer replaced Rolex as the sport's official timekeeper. Moët & Chandon returned to podium celebrations. Louis Vuitton now crafts the bespoke trophy trunk handed to each race winner, including the one presented to Antonelli in Shanghai on Sunday. The partnership, as framed by Bernard Arnault, was premised on Formula 1 having become one of the most desirable sports in the world. The China dimension is central to that logic. Louis Vuitton's recent Shanghai activations, including The Louis concept space at HKRI Taikoo Hui and its maritime heritage exhibitions, have already demonstrated the brand's understanding that Chinese luxury consumers want cultural experience as much as product. An annual Grand Prix in Shanghai gives LVMH a moment of live, shared spectacle in the market that matters most. The trophy trunk is a piece of brand communication as much as it is a piece of luggage. Other brands are moving with equal purpose. Ahead of this weekend's race, Tumi brought Lando Norris, the reigning world champion, onto a Douyin livestream to engage Chinese fans directly. It is a precise articulation of the opportunity: a global sports star, a platform built for the Chinese digital consumer, and a brand repositioning itself for a younger audience through the cultural equity Formula 1 now carries in China. The activation required no translation. The audience already knew who Norris was.