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 takes readers 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 how their
own stories reflect their ties to the past, their accomplishments in an
increasingly complex environment, and, ultimately, their roads to the
stars.
