SUPERHUBS: How the Financial Elite and their Networks Rule Our World

by Sandra Navidi, Nouriel Roubini (Foreword)

An international bestseller, SUPERHUBS offers a startling new perspective on how the world's elite make the decisions that impact all our lives.

A BLOOMBERG Best Book of the Year

Winner, Silver Medal, Axiom Business Book Awards 2018

FOREWORD BY NOURIEL ROUBINI


$UPERHUBS is a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how the world's most powerful titans, the "superhubs," pull the levers of our global financial system. Combining insider's knowledge with principles of network science, Sandra Navidi offers a startling new perspective on how superhubs build their powerful networks and how their decisions impact all our lives.

$UPERHUBS 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 and exclusive galas. This is the most vivid portrait to date of the global the bank CEOs, fund managers, billionaire financiers and politicians who, through their interlocking relationships and collective influence are transforming our increasingly fragile financial system, economy and society.

Genres: Finance, Economics, Business, Nonfiction, Politics

310 pages, Hardcover

Published January 24, 2017

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another promising book on economics whose concepts could have easily been covered in an essay. Navidi devotes much of the book to name-dropping. Her treatment of the current dire circumstances in our financial economy is simplistic. She takes no interest in suggesting sophisticated answers to the problems she proclaims to understand so well.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book describe how 'superhubs'- the 0.01% live. They go to the same exclusive (and expensive) places, they come from the same Ivy League schools, they are mostly finance people who do deals with each other and who write books and set up think tanks and powerful conferences like Davos. They are all smart and hardworking. However what makes them powerful is the interactions with other people like them. They are able to raise funds, invest in charities and lobby for favourable rules from world leaders.

It is very well written, making me feel that I am also attending the various conferences, the cocktail parties, shaking hands with famous people like George Soros and Gordon Brown.

A few parts talk about the problems of the people: they cannot rest and must constantly travel to maintain those critical relationships. They can be cut off from the Hubs if they do something bad (like Strauss-Kahn). They cannot think different most of the time and they mostly exclude Non-white men. When they panic they panic together and can cause crises.

Unfortunately even though some solutions were proposed in the last part of the book, it sounded very general, like 'we must all try to do the right thing'. She thinks that regulation is useless, that it just shift deals underground where regulation does not hold. If that is the case, the repeal of the Glass-Steagal would not have been considered to have contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

[Jon Norimann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superhubs is mostly an insiders description of how things happen when the financial elite meet at their big organized events like the Bilderberger meetings. Navidi gives a fair description but there is little new info and nothing surprising.

At the end Navidi tries to draw some conclusions and vaguely suggest some improvements. This part is intentionally tentative and very weak. For instance Navidi doesn't mention the father of market economics Adams Smith's strong views in the area. Instead Navidi seems to conclude these elite meetings are a modern problem, giving a strong indication that Navidi is no expert in the area. Indeed, Navidi is a lawyer, not an economist, an accusation she defends many others from in the text.

Superhubs ends up a redundant book. It only has some limited value for those suspecting there is alchemy or similar weird things going on at these elite meetings.

[Vasco · Rating 1 out of 5]

The bad: The book is wrongly advertised. It's a good set of Wall Street stories that could be read just like Den of Thieves, Barbarians at the Gate or Confidence Game, except that instead of being structured as a sequential story, the author decided to break it into chapters by topic and try to extract lessons from it. And that's my problem with the book - it claims to reveal secrets into how the networks of these individuals work, while it contains zero actionable information. It can be summarized as "powerful people have access to exclusive information, higher amounts of money and exclusive network. All points made by the author are trivial.

Navidi also seems to make herself more important than she actually is. In several occasions she brags about, for example, trying to outsmart Putin and actually being outsmarted herself, constantly mentioning her presence, her importance, her involvement. The book's alleged objectivity is contained by personal stories, being a weird hybrid. Navidi seems to only have access to all this knowledge and networks by working for Nouriel Roubini, dropping his name on every possible occasion. The author claims to have worked "with him", while a quick Google research yields it was in a position working for him. Small embellishments like these really kill any objectivity the author was trying to accomplish here.

At a specific point, Navidi delves into Buddy Fletcher's life and his asset management Ponzi Scheme, which is in scope. But she then decides to put his wife Ellen Pao in the same bucket, as if considering that her sexual harassment suit and discrimination in Silicon Valley are scams as well. This felt like an unnecessary, out-of-context stab, which I presume was just for shock value.

Finally, I found weird Navidi complains about mansplaining being a female - which is naturally a real and serious issue - but then proceeds to explain in parentheses what "Brexit" and "butterfly effect" mean... Which she does not do for when speaking about complex political/economical concepts such as isolationism or the role of central banks. This did not make sense to me either, nor did it inspire confidence.

Navidi's boasting and lack of objectivity can be summed up in the book acknowledgments' opening line. "This book doesn't just tell the story of networks, it's a result of my personal networks".

The good: The stories are interesting and shed light into the world of the super powerful in finance. If you're not used to it, it's a good introductory read.

Verdict: Good if you want stories about profiles in finance and/or as an intro to their lifestyle. But if you're looking for the secrets of network building or insights Navidi claims to have... Move along, nothing to see here.

[Santosh Dönmez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rezension aus Deutschland vom 8. November 2016
Im Großen und Ganzen kann man sagen, dass es sich bei diesem Buch von Frau Navidi um ein nette, leicht zu lesende Lektüre handelt. Für Menschen, die sich das erste Mal mit den Machtgeflechten an der Wall Street beschäftigen mag es viel Neues und Interessantes bieten. Für jemanden, der sich seit mehreren Jahren für diese Branche und ihre schillerndsten Vertreter interessiert, fallen die Zusatzinformationen jedoch recht mager aus. Das ist per se erstmal nicht zu verurteilen, da das Buch in meinen Augen ein sehr breites Leserspektrum abdecken soll.
Was mich allerdings zunehmend gestört hat waren die Wiederholungen und die latente Selbstdarstellung. Jedes Kapitel, oder auch Unterkapitel wurde mit einem Charity Event, dem WEF oder sonst welchen Versammlungen eingeleitet. Beschreibungen der immergleichen anwesenden Personen zogen sich dabei über mehrere Seiten und vermittelten den faden Beigeschmack von Selbstbeweihräucherung. Ich möchte hier die Erfolge der Autorin, bezogen auf ihre Karriere in keinster Weise schlecht machen, was mir nebenbei aus meiner Position heraus auch schlecht gelingen würde. Jedoch bekommt man ein leicht negatives Bild einer Person, die sich im eigenen Buch all zu oft im gleichen Satz mit Ray Dalio, George Soros, Jamie Dimon, oder Stephen Schwarzman nennt.
Nichts desto trotz ist es für viele Interessierte sicher einen Kauf wert, wenn man nicht mit der Erwartungshaltung ran geht absolut tiefgehende Insider Informationen über die Eliten der Wall Street zu erhalten ;).

[Elliot Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is networking the high finance way; I thought it was fascinating to read of the concept of a superhub and its nodes in familiar networking terms. Seeing the relationships, how everything was connected and interdependent, is very interesting. And whilst these concepts can be applied to general networking, it's not something I've really thought about as a node or hub. Seeing the high finance topology is especially intriguing because of the power, influence and opportunity.

I really enjoyed this book, though I thought it faltered somewhat in the last chapter and felt unfocused. Since I don't work in finance I sometimes found the list of names of billionaires at events felt like name dropping/name checking and didn't think it was necessary and certainly not for my benefit as a reader. Otherwise I thought the book was clear and focused, and a joy to read.

[Libby Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting insight into the lives of super rich financiers. I particularly enjoyed the details about Davos, George Soros’ early life, women in the financial world especially the flattering portrait of Christine Lagarde and finally hiw the mighty fall. The book made me feel like a helpless little ant! These financiers are in the main, extremely intelligent, power driven white men whi do big deals behind closed doors and who have more influence and power than governments.

[Ashok Krishna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being the mere mortal that I am, once in a while I too fall prey to the hype created by the well-meaning friends around me, at least when it comes to book recommendation. This year, this is the second such book which was sold to me – not literally though – with a huge hype, but which ended up as just another dull ones.

The book promises to show us how the world’s most powerful financial organizations and their bosses influence our lives by their decisions. I was sitting up eagerly hoping for an adventurous ride, able to get an inside view into the business intricacies of global finance and economy. But the book was filled up with the ostentatious parties and endless conferences that the finance bigwigs get to attend to all through the year. For a while, the book feels like it is trying to teach you the need for a good networking amongst your peers and superiors. Then it feels like a roster of who-is-who of the global finance and the parties they attend and the cabals they are parts of. I couldn’t control letting out an occasional yawn every now and then.

After striving to pay repeated, utter obeisance to the overlords of financial world, especially to people like George Soros and Nouriel Roubini, recalling their names with superior adjectives almost every other time they are mentioned, the author shifts gears at last, just as I was losing interest to even skim through the pages. She started talking about some serious topics like how exclusive and single dimensional these ‘super-hubs’ are, less represented by people of other gender and other races. She also started talking about the muck – corruption, arrogance & indifference to the plight of lesser mortals like us - that is covered up beneath all that veneer of opulence that shimmers on the high profile bankers.

Ironically though, just as the author improved the tempo, letting go of all the bragging and boring obsequiousness, she seemed to have lost interest. This was clearly seen in a bunch of spelling and grammatical errors that mar those pages. Imagine! Just as you start reading something worthwhile on those pages!

The author ends the book with a half-hearted call to reform the global financial network, and restrain the unbridled - often times unethical - pursuit of wealth. But who will bell the cat?! There is no definitive answer or any meaningful discussion.

So, just to sum it up all, it doesn’t contain any meaningful insights about how the global financial systems work or how they influence our lives, if that is what you were trying to learn as I initially did. This book is more about how the behemoths of finance mingle and mesh, with their unimaginable wealth and the relentless pursuit for more, especially when written by an insider who looks at them with a twinkle in her eyes!

Boring! Obsequious!! Boastful!!!

[Michael Southall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting descriptive start -> long,exhausting middle -> ok end.

I wouldn’t say there’s a ‘name-dropping’ issue mentioned by other reviews, it’s just that there’s way too many similar repetitive descriptive stories of different tycoons.

Fun to know:
- Buffett argues that bosses and their spouses should lose everything if a bank is bailed out because spouses would presumably ‘do better policing than the regulator’.
- ‘Hit me with a fine, we can afford it’ , smiles Jamie Dimon while answering Elizabeth Warren.

Good to know:
- A study from London Business School illustrates that politically connected firms are on average less likely to be involved in an SEC enforcement action and face lower penalties if prosecuted.
(Not exactly mind-blowing stuff I know!)

- Vice chairman of the US FED & former governor of Bank of Israel - Stanley Fischer, was once the MIT professor of former FED chairman Ben Bernanke and ECB president Mario Draghi.

- possibly as a result, Fischer, Bernanke and Draghi all had similar approaches to QE during the financial crisis and in its aftermath.

(Is this a ‘groupthink’ phenomenon? If so, is it a problem? That’s up for debate but the author doesn’t make a detailed, satisfactory attempt to answer this.

I guess it depends on how the source of this phenomenon [Fischer] taught his students?)

Must know:
- University of Warwick - quantified the value of personal connections by determining that the revenue of US political lobbyists falls by 24% if their former employer leaves office.
(Not surprising at all but interesting how the ‘personal connections’ variable can be quantified)

- research have shown that within a short time of interaction, ‘relational capture’ sets in -> it then evolves into ‘cognitive capture’ - when regulators work closely with the regulated that they start to see through their lens.

- Cognitive capture then culminate in ‘regulatory capture’ where regulators become dominated by the very financial sector that they are required to regulate.

In short, I would of preferred if she shortened the book by half so I can spend the saved hours on researching about ‘relational capture’, ‘cognitive capture’, & ‘regulatory capture’.

[Vamsi Sridhar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supehubs is one of those books that takes you on a whirlwind tour to a rarefied world of the financial titans. The author, a quasi-superhub herself, indulges the reader by taking them to the familiar annual events that gets marked in one’s calendar. The book opens describing the mother of all events – the annual gathering of heavyweights at the WEF-Davos One cannot, but wonder, on the constant namedropping that the author resorts to

" I crossed paths with Bill Gates, who gave me a friendly nod; IMF chief Christine Lagarde, who said hello; and private equity billionaire Steve Schwarzman, with whom I exchanged pleasantries.” At the coat check, “where I replaced my messy boots with elegant dress shoes I ran into former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers and Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller. "

The author uses the basis of network science to build on the behavior of networks, the strengths and weaknesses of powerful titans across the globe. She, however, does a good job on intertwining network science with human behavior – by introducing “ Law of preferential detachment “ all ll nodes prefer to attach to other nodes with the most connections, because a greater number of connections increases the chances of individual survival. The best-connected nodes at the center of networks are called ‘superhub’ . One interesting tit-bit comes in the form of Dunbar’s number - According to “Dunbar’s Number,” our minds only have the cognitive capacity to retain approximately 150 true connections or relationships. This natural limitation makes access all the more valuable. The concept of Dunbar’s Number is widely recognized in business circles, particularly in client-oriented professions.

The premise of the book makes the reader want to pick up the book. The author introduces just enough wordplay to keep the reader moving on, but frankly does little to scratch more to the core of the idea – survival & thriving through networking.

[Oleksandr Potapov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly I was quite skeptical about the book, not because of the loud title "How the Financial Elite and their Networks Rule Our World", but also owing to first 5 chapters of describing these 'elite' and the luxury way these people live, it seemed to me like superficial work. But I decided to finish it and make the final decision after. To make a long story short - I did like this book, I would rate it 4.5. Why? There are several reasons I`d like to mention.
1. The book is very concrete. Sandra offers a look from a person, who knows mostly all the people she is writing about, not only knows but does have relationships with them. It allowed me as a reader to look from the inside to this network.
2. She looks on both sides of the medal, not only benefits of being a SUPERHUB, but also the price they pay. The significant part of the book is devoted to the 'backstage'. This allowed me to understand the priorities and value system which characterizes people, who manage billions of dollars in assets.
"This is a status game, which causes a lot of addictions and CEOs in gold handcuffs are completely absorbed by the effort to stay on top" - from the book.
3. Also, she talks a lot about the absence of women at the top of the financial world, the reasons and consequences of these.
"Women are often excluded from the networks because they do not have their own and do not have mentors" - from the book
4. She also talks about reasons to be excluded from the networks. What happened to Ex-IMF Head Dominique Strauss-Cann.
To sum up I did like the book. It is not very deep, but due to a delicate and detailed description of the interaction within the influential networks, the reader himself can draw conclusions about the importance of building your own social networks. It was a great book for me to get to know more about networking, its importance, character, and power.

[Jonathan Mutch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I went into SuperHubs expecting a critical analysis of how financial elites operate and consolidate power, but what I got was something closer to a fawning tribute. Navidi doesn’t examine these networks with any real scrutiny—she celebrates them. Instead of pulling back the curtain on how power is manipulated behind closed doors, she acts like an awestruck insider, painting the world’s financial elite as visionary masterminds rather than self-serving operators rigging the system to their advantage.

What’s particularly gross is that she basically acknowledges that these private gatherings are opportunities to tilt the playing field, exploit insider information, and entrench their own dominance—but rather than condemning it, she frames it as the natural result of brilliant, charismatic alphas coming together in a benevolent desire to do good. The book barely even flirts with the idea that these practices might be exploitative, unethical, or outright illegal. Instead, it’s just one long love letter to the super-connected.

Beyond the tone, the book is repetitive, light on analysis, and heavy on name-dropping. There’s no real attempt to question whether these elite networks actually benefit society, just an implicit assumption that their dominance is deserved. It reads more like an extended LinkedIn post designed to maintain access rather than a real critique.

If you want a hard look at power and finance, this isn’t it. If you want a book that reassures you that the rich and powerful are just better than the rest of us—this might be your thing.

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those curious and random reading. Did I enjoy reading it? I think it was an interesting book, a very well written book. What i mean by that, reading from the first chapter, you can tell that it was written by someone who attended such prestige education and mingle around those 'super' institution with lots of lots exposure on unconventional diction, those 'GRE' words. But somehow, yet it feels more of a light non academic reading, so anyone with none economics degree like myself, are able to thoroughly follow it.
At once, I feel like reading through a woman's diary? more of a travelling journal from those 'james bond's movie' with those big names of the world (although as non-american, for sure I have no clue who are they, but ..who cares?! still, All of those 'meeting with Putin' story and many other stories alike were everyone's fantasy or daydreaming, right? I dont know if it is really weird to dream of being part of such elite circles.
Well, at the end, i feel like, this book confirm those 'controversy' theory about the 'lucky few' who control the world, and if we are reflecting it back to ourselves, than simply we must understand 'our way of dreaming and limit'. I guess at least this is what i feel :) Sad but true...Go try to read it and find by yourself that we are just a mere no one when it comes to how the finance world works!

[John Coughlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Veni naVidi Vici" as Julius Caesar nearly once wrote.

I found Superhubs a fascinating and intriguing read.
Ms Navidi takes us on a tour of top finance titans all the way to the elevated environment of Davos.
She must possess superlative professional skills and quite some personality to earn the trust and respect of such economic behemoths as George Soros and Nouriel Roubini.

The first half of the book came across as a very balanced objective appraisal of global financial workings influenced by the superhubs. In the second-half Ms Navidi introduced a more personal perspective of the lives and motivations of these financial fulcra. It is a testament to her objectivity that her writing did not strike me in any way as excusatory despite her familiarity with the subject.

[Mohit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sandra Navidi, in her book Superhubs, gives us a peek in the life of the movers and shakers of the world, or as she likes to call them, Superhubs. It's a fresh perspective into what goes on in the power corridors of the world, like the WEF in Davos and other big-name institutions like the IMF and the like.

The book though mostly focuses on the financial and public economic sector including hedge funds, private equity companies, banks, financial institutions and the people running them.

If you are fascinated by the working of the 1% of the 1% in the world, this book is surely going to satiate your curiosity to quite an extent. But I must say that the book does get a little boring and monotonous at times.

[Hannes · Rating 3 out of 5]

It makes you realize how important a strong network is and how the ones with great powerful networks utilize it to become more successful.
Gives you insights in the world's most powerful networks and the persons behind it.
Could have had more lessons for the readers on how to get there, too. What she wrote was trivial.
It was more a series of stories of meeting powerful persons at high society networking events and a few facts about them. The problems about them were mentioned but no solutions were suggested.

[Naim Miah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lacks depth, like a lot. Fun to read, but no real takeaways than the very obvious stuff

**Super weird that the authors frequently shared her personal interactions & relationships w/ such elites. I just assumed that she must have to personally know & interacted w/ these individuals to write about them. Idk if it was humble bragging or just personal embellishment, but i guess if I was an elite, I too would mentions my network any chance I get to play up my creditability.

[Christoph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it for casual short time reading in public transport. The book itself are many chapters and smaller stories and a lot of namedropping. I really liked the stories how people recover. Other parts I didn't enjoy, e.g., the last part where suggestions are made. Nevertheless, an interesting view into the world of the financial elite.

[Tim Vlas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Найкращий опис фінансових магнатів та середовища мільярдерів. Раджу ознайомитись початківцям, які мріють пірнути в глибини інвестицій, інвестбанків, фінансових ринків, корпорацій. Книга буде корисною міністрам, головам урядів та майбутнім президентам!

[dimwig · Rating 2 out of 5]

i read this a while ago and forgot to rate it i guess. no but i definitely reviewed it. i'm confused. anyway it's not very good.

[Haroon Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

A facsinating story of World Economic Forum Culture.

[May Wong · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing memorable

[Udhara De Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Network theory meets anecdotes of Davos regulars, George Soros and central bank chiefs.

[Saif · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book would have been great essay or article

[Grant Hodgson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Decided to bail on this after reading the reviews, which confirmed that after 2 chapters it was looking dire

[Charles Reimler · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You Don’t “Miss The WATER 💦 “Until The WELL Runs DRY:” Quotation 👵Grandma 👵 +Marketing Corporate Facade Persona Underneath REALITY 1st 🥇 REMAINS PROFIT & GROWTH

[Kzaman Amit · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fascinating some inside stories of billionaires & elit people. Apart from that nothing special here.

[Bill Cripps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over personalised trip into the world of the international elites Resulting in a gossipy romp of little economic interest.

[Маркіян Прохасько · Rating 4 out of 5]

Цікава книжка, у якій показано деякі принципи, за якими працюють будь-які середовища. Люди довіряють тим, з ким виросли, з ким вчилися, з ким працювали, собі подібним. Проте у цьому випадку середовище економічної світової еліти "трохи більше" заробляє і має "трохи більше" впливу на світові процеси. Сандра Навіді вказує на очевидні речі, про які не одразу міг би сам подумати, а також і на неочевидні речі, наводить деякі приклади, хоча навряд чи може/хоче розповідати все.
Разом з тим, варто пам'ятати, що це книга не про економіку. Так само як книга про науковців не була б книгою про науку. Якщо б робити курс з економіки, то принципи і "секрети" функціонування економічних еліт можна було б вмістити у такий курс однією-двома лекціями. І саме цим була б книга "Суперхаби".
Також варто пам'ятати, що Сандра Навіді - зацікавлена особа, яка має власну фірму, тож ця книга є принаймні частково саморекламою: "звертайтеся до мене, я у цьому середовищі, я знаю, як це працює, я маю зв'язки".
Тим не менше, особисто мені було б цікаво прочитати такі книги не лише про впливові середовища і професії, але і про залізничників і їхнє життя, про працівників атомних електростанцій, про пілотів і працівників аеропортів тощо. Імовірно, вони були б ще цікавішими.
Також Сандра Навіді у деяких місцях повторюється, деякі розділи нуднуваті, але деякі розділи навпаки значно сильніші.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lifestyles of the financial rich and famous. Eye opening, but in that kind of way. You get behind the scenes descriptions of top financial meetings like Davos and Bilderberg. Item that stuck in my head (since I was listening to this audiobook while on a treadmill): top financiers must be very fit to attract others into their “super-hub” of relationships. I found more of the writing focused on the celebrity, and much less on the academics of networks than I would have expected. This is much more readable because of this. I’d consider it an example of “pop international finance” in that you learn a bit about how top financial executives work while also learning about how their social lives work. In that Robin Leach kind of way, this has some fascinating content.