Hidden Champions: Success Lessons of the Most Secretive Global Market Leaders

Hidden Champions: Success Lessons of the Most Secretive Global Market Leaders

When he was still researching and teaching at university in Germany, Professor Hermann Simon undertook to study the landscape of market leaders in exports around the world and in different industries, with the goal of identifying the characteristics of the companies that managed to find their way into that selective group. What he discovered surprised him; it was not the giants he expected who occupied the top spots. It was, instead, predominately middle market companies who remained relatively unknown who were the clear leaders. Many of them came from Germany.

In this Tugboat Institute® talk, Professor Simon shares key learnings from his work on his subsequent book, Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World’s Best Unknown Companies. The Hidden Champions are different from Evergreen® companies, but they share some important and interesting characteristics. Professor Simon went a step beyond simply articulating his theory on Hidden Champions. Following publication of the book, he left the university and founded his own company, Simon-Kucher, which, following the steps he outlined in the book, he has grown into a Hidden Champion itself.

Watch this talk, consider the characteristics of the Hidden Champions, and see if any of them might help your company.

More Articles and Videos

How “Thinking Week” Transforms Businesses

  • Tim Huelskamp
  • 1440 Media
July 08, 2025
Marianne Lewis stage 1

Both/And Thinking: Harnessing the Positive Potential of Tensions

  • Marianne Lewis
  • Carl L. Linder College of Business, University of Cincinnati
July 01, 2025

Leading Through Uncertainty – Tugboat Institute® Summit 2025

  • Jackie Hawkins
  • Tugboat Institute
June 23, 2025
Keim Image

Lessons From Our $2 Million Tuition

  • Jim Smucker
  • The Keim Company
June 10, 2025

Supporting Evergreen® leaders, their teams, and their companies through recognition, experiences, publications and programs to bring inspiration, new ideas, and proven best practices about business, family and life.