Rolf Dobelli (July 15, 1966) born in Luzern, Switzerland, as Rolf Döbeli is a Swiss author and entrepreneur. He is the founder of World.minds. He writes books on decision-making and critical thinking.
Life Dobelli studied philosophy and business administration at the University of St. Gallen where he graduated with a doctorate on the "Deconstruction of Economic Discourse" in 1995. He then went to work as the CFO and Managing Director in various Swissair subsidiaries. In 1999 he co-founded "getAbstract".
From 2001 to 2009, Dobelli hosted a weekly television show "Seitenweise Wirtschaft" for the Swiss newspaper and media company, NZZ. He also wrote a weekly column on the Art of Thinking Clearly. He regularly writes for POLITICO, where he has conducted the very last public interview with Henry Kissinger. In 2024, Dobelli was a speaker at the Munich Security Conference.Loeb, Avi (2024). "Lessons from the 2024 Munich Security Conference." Medium. Retrieved February 11, 2025, from https://avi-loeb.medium.com/lessons-from-the-2024-munich-security-conference-78995ef580a9. At the 2006 World Economic Forum ski race, Dobelli scored second place.
Dobelli, who sees himself as a modern Stoic, founded World.minds in 2008 to create a bridge between the science, business and cultural communities. Speakers included Nassim Taleb, Gerhard Schröder, F. W. de Klerk, Matt Ridley, Henry Kissinger, Ehud Olmert, General David Petraeus, Lord Norman Foster, among others. In March 2022, media group Axel Springer took over the event management arm of World.Minds to extend its portfolio of community business.
He resigned from getAbstract in 2011 so that he could dedicate himself to writing. Dobelli's increasing dissatisfaction with the world of pure business was already reflected in his 2003 novel titled "35 - A Midlife Story". This was followed by his 2004 book, "And what do you do for a living" and his 2007 book "Who am I? 777 indiscreet questions."
"Avoid news consumption" Dobelli advises his readers to "avoid news consumption".Avoid News - Towards a healthy news diet Guardian News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier print and online edition of 13 April 2013 He cites "fifteen reasons to avoid news" in a 2013 blog post."All in the Mind" on BBC Radio 30 April 2013, starting at 15:00 min. Why you should stay away from news - published online. The Huffington Post . News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier - Essay in English published by the Guardian It is the subject of a book in English titled, "Stop Reading the News: How to cope with the information overload and think more clearly".Stop Reading the News: How to cope with the information overload and think more clearly Dobelli's writings are sometimes controversial. The Guardian newspaper columnist Madeleine Bunting has even gone so far as accusing his ideas on news of being "dangerous". In 2020, in a conversation with Rob Wijnberg Dobelli said, "news focuses mainly on exceptional events. It doesn't help you to fundamentally to understand the world. And it makes you cynical and anxious". In 2024, the New York Times referenced his book in an article by Ginia Bellafante about news fatigue.
Books and reception In 2003, Diogenes Verlag (Switzerland) published his first novel, Fünfunddreissig ("Thirty-five"), followed by Und was machen Sie beruflich? ("And What Do You Do for a Living?") in 2004, Himmelreich (The Heavens) in 2006, Wer bin ich? ("Who am I?") and Turbulenzen ("Turbulence") in 2007 and Massimo Marini in 2010. The major themes in Dobelli's novels are the meaning of success and the role of randomness in business and in life.
Dobelli is the author of The Art of Thinking Clearly (Die Kunst des klaren Denkens), originally published by Carl Hanser Verlag in 2011, which was an instant success, entering Germany's Der Spiegel Bestseller list as number 1.Der Spiegel Bestseller List, 12 Jan 2012 It was the bestselling non-fiction book in Germany and Switzerland in 2012.Der Spiegel print edition 1/2013 p. 121 It was translated into English in 2013 by Nicky Griffin and hit the top ten bestseller lists in the U.K,The Times bestseller list hardback non-fiction, 21 April 2013The Sunday Times bestseller list 7 July 2013 (rank number 4) South Korea, India,[Crossword book retailer's bestseller list June 2013] Ireland,Writing.IE Bestseller List, 14 June 2013 Hong Kong and Singapore.The Straits Times bestseller list non-fiction, 28 April 2013 In 2019 former Chief of Staff of the US Airforce Ronald Fogleman added the book to the top CSAF Required reading program. Dobelli presented his new book, "The Art of the Good Life", at a London School of Economics (LSE) Business Review event in October 2017.
In 2020 Dobelli published "Stop Reading the News, A Manifesto for a Happier, Calmer and Wiser Life". In 2012 Dobelli had already published an essay on this topic on his personal website, which The Guardian reported about in 2013. Martin Newman, reviewing the book for the Financial Review wrote, "'Stop Reading the News' explores the explosion of opinion-based news, the elevation of mediocrity over substance (The Kardashians!!), the way news creates the illusion of empathy, can elevate stress levels and builds a mindset that reinforces negativity". In November 2020, when asked how to deal with the Covid pandemic, Dobelli simply commented: "Opinions are like noses: everyone has one. Let's stop complaining."
Criticism In 2013, Nassim Nicholas Taleb published a piece on his website in which he accused Dobelli of plagiarism.Guido Kalberer, [www.tagesanzeiger.ch/kultur/buecher/Nassim-Taleb-attackiert-Rolf-Dobelli/story/11573752 Nassim Taleb attackiert Rolf Dobelli], Tages-Anzeiger, 12 September 2013. Later, Christopher Chabris also published what he claimed to be an example in Dobelli's book that is referenced but does not have quotation marks. While Dobelli never claimed that the ideas were his, he has acknowledged their concerns and has updated subsequent editions. Claims of plagiarism have been disputed by Claudius Seidl, the cultural editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, who stated: "Not a single sentence suggests that Dobelli thought it all up himself; on the contrary, sometimes it's almost a little tiresome how Dobelli repeatedly refers to the academic authority of the people who gave him the insights."
Bibliography
Books
In German Fünfunddreissig (Thirty-five), 2003 Und was machen Sie beruflich? (And What Do You Do for a Living?), 2004 Himmelreich (The Heavens), 2006 Wer bin ich? (Who Am I?), 2007 Turbulenzen (Turbulence), 2007 Massimo Marini, 2010 Die Kunst des klaren Denkens (The Art of Thinking Clearly), 2011 Die Kunst des klugen Handelns (The Art of Acting Clearly), 2012 Fragen an das Leben, 2014 Die Kunst des guten Lebens, 2017 Die Kunst des digitalen Lebens, 2019 Die Not-To-Do-Liste, 2024 Jetzt sind Sie gefragt, 2025 Das können nur Sie beantworten, 2026
In English The art of thinking clearly, 2013 The art of the good life, Sceptre, 2017 Stop Reading the News, 2020 The Not-To-Do List, 2025 Success Through Less, 2025
Selected publications
Dobelli, R. D. (2009). Conversation. In N. N. Taleb, Le Hasard Sauvage: Comment la chance nous trompe? Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Actu-Philosophia.com Dobelli, R. D. (2014). The Paradox of Material Progress. In J. Brockman (Ed.), What Should We Be Worried About? New York: Harper. . Dobelli, R. D. (2015). Self-Aware IA: Not In a Thousand Years. In J. Brockman (Ed.), What Do You Think About Machines That Think? New York: Harper. Edge.com. Dobelli, R. D. (2017). General Standardization Theory. In J. Brockman (Ed.), This Idea is Brilliant: Lost, Overlooked, and Underappreciated Scientific Concepts Everyone Should Know. New York: Harper. . Edge.com. Dobelli, R. D. (2019). Does this Question Exist in a Parallel Universe? In J. Brockman (Ed.), The Last Unknowns: Deep, Elegant, Profound Unanswered Questions About the Universe, the Mind, the Future of Civilization, and the Meaning of Life. New York: Harper.
Memberships Edge Foundation, Inc., PEN International Royal Society of Arts
Literature Rolf Dobelli, in the Munzinger-Archiv Entry about Rolf Dobelli in the encyclopedia of the Association of Swiss Authors
References
External links (dobelli.com)