At Simon-Kucher, building authentic relationships is a core value. In this personal reflection, Dr. Allison Dupuy, Senior Partner, Board Member, and Co-Managing Partner USA & Canada, shares a powerful reminder that trust and empathy are essential foundations for lasting success.
At Simon-Kucher, building authentic relationships is at the heart of how we lead, collaborate, and grow. Dr. Allison Dupuy is a Senior Partner, Member of the Board, and Co-Managing Partner USA and Canada. She is also Regional Head of Simon-Kucher's Healthcare & Life Sciences division in the Americas. In this personal reflection, Allison shares the simple truth she’s learned over the years: it’s all about the people. From heartfelt letters to honest conversations, Allison’s story is a powerful reminder that trust, empathy, and being truly personal aren’t just nice-to-haves. These traits are the foundation of lasting impact for our people, our clients, and our culture.
“When I explain to my 96-year-old grandmother or my niece and nephews what exactly it is that I do, I always tell them that I am – we are – in the people business. Despite their significant age gap, this simple yet profound explanation makes perfect sense to them. People are at the heart of what we do day in and day out, both in terms of the clients whom we serve, as well as, and even more importantly to me, the incredible global team that we are so fortunate to be a part of.
As a company, we know that our success and our strength lie in our people, in each and every colleague. Rooted in humanity and deep empathy, our goal is to build authentic long-term relationships that extend beyond our local office walls or any constrained time horizons. Coming up on my 18-year anniversary at this special, unique company, I often get asked why I am still here. What is it that makes me want to stay? Without hesitation, my response is always the people, the friendships, the genuine authentic relationships that I have built and continue to build with our team and our clients. These are the things that not only inspire me but enable me to be personal with people, to be humble, relatable, down to earth, vulnerable, and comfortable with having difficult conversations that enable us to grow together.
This value, the value of authentic relationships, is one that forms the core of our business and our culture. And in many ways, it is akin to the primary essence of our roots and our foundation as exemplified by none other than our founder Hermann Simon himself.
At many key milestones in my leadership story at Simon-Kucher, one that has been full of both great successes as well as epic failures, I have received beautiful, heartfelt, deeply personal letters from Hermann. These golden nuggets of wisdom and inspiration have meant more to me than I can possibly put into words. They have taught me that a personal touch, a human connection, and a simple relatable gesture of proactively reaching out to celebrate the triumphs of others or to lend some support when we could use a little bit more encouragement are some of the greatest gifts that we can give to each other.
Behavior and emotions are contagious. When we take a risk and share something personal – for example, a dream that we have, a childhood memory, a personal story, or a meaningful experience – we send a signal to the other person that we trust them.
Research shows that when we are willing to open up and be personal with someone, they become more trustworthy and open. This circle of trust becomes the nest to create and nurture a connectedness that allows us to share knowledge, innovate, and grow together both as a team as well as individuals into our true authentic selves.”