Publisher's Synopsis
In the middle of 1986, I was scheduled to attend a very important interview in Zurich. During the four days leading up to this interview, I stopped in London, Paris, Copenhagen and Brussels; In each of these capitals, interviews were conducted with consultants of the international executive search firm Egon Zender International, during which nearly thirty talks were held, including sessions with a large group of its partners, as well as all members of its executive board. But when I arrived in Zurich, I was due to meet Egon Zender himself - the company's founder and then chairman of the board, to put it mildly, I was nervous. (I can remember some of this ancient tension to this day.) I was very aware of the status of the man standing before me who had inaugurated . After graduating from Harvard Business School the year I was born. Executive search career in Europe in 1959, and established his own company in 1964, which soon expanded its scope internationally. He was, quite simply, a legend. I now shy away from admitting that I don't remember many of his questions that day, but for some reason I do remember quite well some of my questions to him, and in particular one I asked him that was: Based on your more than 25 years of experience in executive search that I spent in Meeting successful clients and candidates for senior positions, what is the secret behind one's success? I guess I expected then that he would answer me with an extensive theory of success. He was a very successful man in himself, and I already knew that he was a man of firm convictions and great integrity. Why did this great man answer my question?
