In this engaging, insightful, and inspiring narrative, Hermann Simon, the world-renowned management thinker, consultant, pricing expert, entrepreneur, and leading authority on the “hidden champions” business model, highlights the influences on his remarkable journey from humble origins on a German farm to advising and sharing the stage with global leaders in industry, academia, and politics.
Born in 1947 in the rural Eifel region of Western Germany, Simon’s coming of age parallels that of a country struggling to come to terms with the legacy of World War II and reinvent itself as a new world power. His colorful anecdotes of a youth spent in an agricultural community that in many ways operated as it had since the Middle Ages, reflect the establishment of core values, such as trust, focus, quality, and commitment that served as an anchor against the accelerating pace of technological, economic, political, social, and cultural change in the subsequent decades. Simon takesreaders on a journey through time and space, as his—and our—world transformed from isolated to connected, local to global, revealing lessons learned from the extraordinary people (from Peter Drucker to Henry Kissinger) and places he has encountered along the way, through a career that has evolved from research and education to management consulting to leadership and strategy development on a broad scale. His particular interest in the Mittelstand, or “hidden champions,” the small and medium-sized companies that exemplify the German business philosophy and served as the engine of its economic revival, becomes a powerful metaphor of his own experiences in blazing new trails while staying true to one’s roots.
For anyone familiar with Simon’s work and contributions, Many Worlds, One Life reveals unique insights into the man himself and the origins of his ideas on successful leadership and business strategy. But more generally, readers in any field or discipline will recognize howtheir own stories reflect their ties to the past, their accomplishments in an increasingly complex environment, and, ultimately, their roads to the stars.
Hermann Simon is the founder and honorary chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners, the world’s leading price consultancy, with over 40 offices in 24 countries. Ranked on the Thinkers50 list of the most influential international management thinkers, he is considered the world’s foremost authority on pricing strategy.
Simon has published over 40 books, translated in 27 languages, including the worldwide bestsellers Hidden Champions, Confessions of the Pricing Man, Price Management, and True Profit! No Company Ever Went Broke from Turning a Profit. From 1995 to 2009 he served as CEO of Simon-Kucher & Partners. He has advised many of the world’s leading companies, and has served as a board member of foundations and corporations.
Before committing himself entirely to management consulting, Simon was a professor of business administration and marketing at the Universities of Mainz (1989-1995) and Bielefeld (1979-1989). His visiting professorships include Harvard Business School, Stanford, London Business School, INSEAD, Keio University in Tokyo, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He has served on the editorial boards of numerous business journals, including the International Journal of Research in Marketing, Management Science, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, Décisions Marketing, and European Management Journal. He was also a columnist for Manager-Magazin, Germany’s top business monthly (1988-2015) and president of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC).
Simon studied economics and business administration at the Universities of Cologne and Bonn, where he graduated in economics and earned his Ph.D. in management science. He has received many international awards and three honorary doctorates. He is honorary professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and the Hermann Simon Business School in Shouguang, China, hasbeen named in his honor.
