Philipp Rösler in St. Gallen: Leadership Between Geopolitics, Regulation and Sustainable Value Creation

St. Gallen - From 10 to 12 November 2025, the University of St. Gallen hosted Dr. Philipp Rösler as Personality in Residence at its interdisciplinary learning platform SQUARE. The three-day residency placed current questions of executive leadership, global economic transformation and sustainable corporate governance at the centre of academic and strategic discourse.

Rösler, former German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics, engaged with students, researchers and business leaders in a series of formats designed to bridge political experience with contemporary corporate realities. The programme formed part of the university’s established Personality in Residence initiative, which invites high-profile decision-makers to participate in structured dialogue on leadership and societal responsibility.

SQUARE, conceived by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto and opened in 2022, has developed into a central venue for experimental teaching and public exchange at HSG. Its architectural openness mirrors the programme’s ambition: to create spaces where academic reflection meets the real-world complexity of global governance.

CEOs under pressure: A shifting leadership landscape

A focal point of the residency was the event CEOs to Campus 2025, where Rösler joined Dr. Jens Heckner for a discussion entitled “The State of Affairs.” Conducted as an unscripted, moderator-free exchange, the format reflected an intentional departure from conventional panel structures in favour of authentic discourse.

The conversation highlighted a marked shift in the nature of executive responsibility. Where market dynamics and shareholder expectations once dominated strategic decision-making, today’s CEOs operate in an environment increasingly shaped by geopolitical tensions, regulatory expansion and technological acceleration.

Key themes included:

• The intensification of leadership pressure due to political fragmentation and economic uncertainty.

• The growing complexity of compliance regimes and sustainability obligations.

• Structural changes in global trade policy as Western economies experiment with tariffs, DEI strategies and ESG-driven regulation, despite currently resilient stock market performance.

Rösler described a leadership environment defined less by linear planning and more by permanent adaptation — a condition that, in his view, requires not only strategic agility but also institutional and personal resilience.

Sustainable value as strategic imperative

On 11 November, Rösler contributed to the Value Creation Rating (VCr) session, a governance framework jointly developed by the University of St. Gallen, EY, the University of Antwerp and the Board Foundation. The model seeks to quantify sustainable value creation across economic, societal and environmental dimensions, positioning ESG not as reputational add-on but as core strategic metric.

The discussion centred on the observation that sustainable transformation cannot be achieved solely through regulatory compliance. Instead, it must be embedded in leadership behaviour, corporate culture and long-term governance structures.

Speakers emphasised:

• The increasing convergence of financial performance and societal impact.

• Leadership responsibility as a defining factor in sustainable corporate transformation.

• Switzerland’s and Europe’s structural advantage through institutional stability and innovation ecosystems.

• The VCr as an operational instrument for strategic foresight and corporate resilience.

The session positioned sustainability less as moral imperative and more as economic necessity in an era of rising systemic risk.

Dialogue as strategic capital

Beyond formal sessions, Rösler participated in workshops, academic discussions and exchange formats with student organisations and expert groups, including AIESEC, the Asia Club and the Ad-Hoc Economics Club, as well as a mobility panel in cooperation with auto-schweiz.

These engagements reinforced the programme’s emphasis on leadership as dialogical process — one shaped by debate, reflection and exposure to contrasting perspectives rather than hierarchical instruction.

A forum for responsible leadership

The Personality in Residence programme at the University of St. Gallen reflects a broader shift in European business education: from technical management training towards integrative leadership development that accounts for political, social and economic interdependencies.

Rösler’s residency illustrated this transition. His presence underscored the increasing importance of interdisciplinary thinking for executives navigating a landscape marked by regulatory density, geopolitical instability and rising societal expectations.

SQUARE as a platform for governance discourse

SQUARE has positioned itself as more than an architectural landmark. As a strategic interface between academia and practice, it functions as an arena for discourse on the future of leadership, governance and value creation.

With the participation of internationally experienced figures such as Philipp Rösler, the University of St. Gallen continues to strengthen its role as a central forum for critical reflection on the evolving architecture of global leadership.