{"id":31210,"date":"2026-09-23T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebrokernews.ch\/?p=31210"},"modified":"2026-09-17T14:02:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:02:45","slug":"interview-with-p-perrenoud-reimaginging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebrokernews.ch\/en\/interview-with-p-perrenoud-reimaginging\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Pierre Perrenoud: Reimagining Insurance Through Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"
20 Books about insurance, explained simply by the creator of Paul the Insurer.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Twenty books, one question: What remains of insurance when you strip it of its technical jargon and describe it once again for what it truly is, a human response to uncertainty? Pierre Perrenoud has set out to do just that, not with textbooks, but with stories and dialogues. In this interview, he explains why fiction reveals more about the industry\u2019s future than any strategic presentation and why artificial intelligence doesn\u2019t make brokers obsolete, but rather makes their judgment all the more important.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are authors who write about insurance because they see it as a business model. And there are those who see in it a story about trust, solidarity, and human action in the face of uncertainty. Pierre Perrenoud<\/a> clearly belongs to the second category, and not just since yesterday. He worked for Swiss Re in Zurich for over 35 years, some of them as a member of the Group Executive Board. Anyone who has known an industry from the inside for so long would have every reason to describe it as it is. Perrenoud, however, has chosen to portray it as it could be: first as the creator of the podcast series \u201cPaul the Insurer<\/a>“, a concept intended to give the industry a more human face, and now as the author of an entire series of books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the following interview, Perrenoud discusses why he relies on dialogue rather than textbooks, why looking to the past provides a clearer picture of the industry\u2019s future, and why the greatest threat to established insurers is not ignorance, but a lack of imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre, you have written more than twenty books about insurance. What motivated you to undertake such an extensive project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did not begin with the intention of writing a collection. Each book emerged from a question: How should we educate future insurance professionals? What happens when technology makes insurance invisible? Can insurers cover risks for which there are no statistics? Is paying a claim enough to help someone recover? Gradually, the books became different parts of the same exploration: what insurance has been, what it is today and what it could become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the common thread connecting such different books?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They all try to reconnect insurance with life. Insurance is more than premiums, policies, models and claims payments. It is one of society\u2019s ways of organizing solidarity, creating confidence and enabling people and businesses to act despite uncertainty. However, the industry can become absorbed by its own language and processes. My stories try to bring the human purpose of insurance back into the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you choose fiction and dialogue rather than conventional professional books?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because insurance is fundamentally about people making decisions under uncertainty. Dialogue allows characters to question one another, disagree, hesitate and sometimes change their minds. That is much closer to professional reality than a textbook offering apparently definitive answers. A story also enables readers to enter a problem emotionally before examining it technically. I do not want to tell readers what to think. I want to encourage them to examine how they think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your books move between ancient history and an increasingly technological future. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking backwards reminds us that insurance did not begin as an industry. It began as a human response to uncertainty. Looking forward helps us recognize that today\u2019s insurance structures are not permanent. Artificial intelligence, cyber risks, embedded protection, wearable technology and new scientific developments may profoundly change what is insured and how protection is delivered. The past explains insurance\u2019s purpose; the future challenges its present form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What role does artificial intelligence play in your vision?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI will possess much of the technical knowledge that professionals once spent years accumulating. But knowledge alone does not produce good decisions. People will still need to ask the right questions, challenge the machine, understand context and choose among solutions that may all be imperfect. The future professional will not compete with AI but collaborate with it. This makes curiosity, culture and judgment more important, not less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why should insurers and brokers read these books?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the greatest danger for an established industry is not ignorance of its present business. It is the inability to imagine that the business could become something different. The books ask questions that strategic presentations sometimes avoid. What happens when insurance becomes embedded and almost invisible? How can we cover emerging risks without abandoning underwriting discipline? Is compensation sufficient after a major loss? How do we innovate while preserving governance and common sense?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brokers have a particularly important role. They stand between clients whose risks are changing and insurers whose structures may change more slowly. They can identify needs that do not fit existing products and help transform them into new forms of protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you like readers to take away from the collection?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope they rediscover insurance as an intellectually exciting and socially valuable activity. The books remain cautiously optimistic: technology will transform insurance, but organizations will still depend on people. Innovation matters only when it produces meaningful protection. Insurance has a remarkable past, but its future will belong to those who remain curious enough to question it, courageous enough to reinvent it and wise enough to remember whom it is meant to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The questions were asked by Binci Heeb.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The short stories are available on Kindle<\/a> and Substack<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to and read: The Illusion of Control<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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