We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pierre Simon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pierre below.
Pierre, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
I never wanted to be a writer, nor did I ever think of myself as an author, but I was given the gift of storytelling, and hence my books and public speaking came to fruition. In 2009 I moved from Texas to California to continue my career in ophthalmology, and the proverbial ascension to the “throne” as one day CEO of my company. Moving from Texas, California was a whole new world for me. My world travels were in their novice stages, and I hadn’t visited many states; as most Texans are loyal to Texas. But going, I would not only find myself and who I was meant to be, but I would further my ambitions in the corporate world, while also feeding into my passion for storytelling. Having very few friends in my new home, one morning I woke and decided to travel from San Franciso, California to Santa Cruz, California, and it was there that I witnessed an event which would spark the premise of my very first published book, The Flight of the Phoenix: Living Forward. In short, sitting at the pier having lunch, I witnessed the “circle of life”. Though this was far from the childhood tale ‘The Lion King’, I watched as a fisherman brought in his catch, and began to filet the fish, while he discarded the tails, heads, and remains to the band of seals and seagulls which had ceremoniously gathered, waiting their turn to enjoy the remains. Seeing this unfold was nothing short of spectacular for me. As the seals and seagulls fought for the scraps of the catch, I noticed two small seagulls standing outside the fray, lest they dare join, and be trampled by larger birds and hungry seals. They waited patiently for their turn to find food and fill their empty beaks. As the fisherman concluded his cleaning ceremony, and the seals and larger birds left the scene, I watched in anticipation wondering what these two little birds would do. They jumped onto the boat and searched frantically, and eventually found the head of a red fish which had clipped the bow and landed back on the boat. There I sat thinking to myself, “Wow patience truly is a virtue.” These two wee birds waited patiently, and now they would be rewarded. As they began to consume their meal, a larger seagull swooped down and flapped its wings and took their long awaited meal. I thought, “How would these two birds respond?!” Sure enough, one of the small birds began squawking at the other, as if to say, “you should have been looking out for larger thieves,” and then the squawker flew away. It was at that moment that my first book began to take shape. I watched that second bird to see how it would respond. It jumped back onto the boat, and searched for what seemed like an hour to find more food. He eventually found another fish tail that had clipped the bow, and now I questioned, would he eat it out in the open or would he learn from his previous mistake and act differently. The little bird took his second finding, and hid deep within the boat, shielding his find from potential thieves. You see we are often taught that patience is a virtue, but what we are not taught is that the true virtuous nature of patience can only be achieved when we have been patient, and waited our turn yet our situation in life may still spiral downward… What we do in those moments, ultimately determines our virtuous nature of patience. This event sparked the genesis of my first book, The Flight of the Phoenix: Living forward, a book which focuses on taking all the time, energy, and focus we place on things in life that we can’t control, and transitioning that time, energy, and focus to things we can control. If we do that, we can’t change the past, but we can learn from the past, live with purpose in the present, and forge a better future.
Pierre, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My full name is Harry Bernard Pierre Simon Jr, and I’m from Houston, Texas. I am a father, a world traveler, a life influencer, public speaker, and someone that wants to positively influence the next generation every day that I’m on this planet. I am both a creative as well as someone that works in the corporate world. Though I am not Bruce Wayne solving the corporate problems by day and saving Gotham City by night dressed as a bat, I have worked in surgical ophthalmology for nearly 16 years. I love sight, as I believe it is the true sense that allows us to live our purpose and see the world in all its brilliance. Because of this, I have worked my way to Vice President, Head of Global Marketing, of a premier surgical ophthalmic company, focused on Delivering the Power of Sight to the world. However, during my downtime, I feed into the other gifts that were afforded me. I have the gift of storytelling, so I write within several genres: self-help, fiction, and How To. I also work with fortune 500 companies and their executive teams, teaching courses on people development and leadership. My focus areas are public speaking, delivering impactful presentations, diversity and inclusion, and how to perform via THE WHAT and THE HOW.
I am most proud of being a father, and being able to create a legacy for my family which will exist long after I am gone. I love mentoring young students on transitioning from high school to college, and college into the real world. Additionally, people often ask what it takes to write a book, and that answer is simple…just start writing. Though that sounds simple, we all have a story to tell which could benefit someone else. However, that story and its potential benefit, is only potential if we don’t act. Writing a book and publishing a book are two totally different things. There are several tactical steps and ideas that come into play when publishing a book, but it all starts with putting pen to paper. I am the founder and CEO of MPS Consulting, and I enjoy helping clients via mrpierresimon.com, fulfill their dreams of publishing their first book, and getting their stories out into the world.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I began writing, I faced the largest adversary that we all face; and it’s the person staring at us in the mirror. I began to question; how I would write and balance a corporate career. How could I, a young kid from 5th ward Houston, Texas actually dream to one day become a CEO of a fortune 500 company, and also have the audacity to be an author? Why would anyone want to read my words on paper, let alone entrust me to run a large ophthalmic company. We are so often taught that we must become “Either/OR”, but rarely are we told that we can be both. We can be corporate as well as fulfill our creative hopes and dreams.
When I started writing, I just wrote different stories and passages. Though eventually they would become my first book, The Flight of the Phoenix: Living forward, it took me ten years to write the book because of all of the self-doubt I harbored. I allowed the nay sayers, mostly myself, to keep the pen on the shelf and my story not getting out into the world. There was even a time that I gave up on writing and decided to take the “easy route”, and simply work my 9 to 5, pay bills, go home, wake up, and start all over the next day. One day, as I was giving a talk to high-school students, one of the teachers came to me after and said, “You should really think about writing a book”. I told her that I had been “writing” a book for nearly 8 years at the time, and she looked at me and said something I will never forget… “STOP WASTING TIME, because people need to hear your story. Your story could motivate someone else to follow their dreams, and if you keep all that potential inside, and don’t share it with the world, then you are wasting a gift.” It was that day, that I picked the pen back up, dusted the pages off, and continued down my journey to change the world. I encourage everyone to follow their dreams but know that it is perfectly ok to have pitfalls and even moments of self-doubt, but what you do in those moments of self-doubt will determine the legacy you leave. KEEP GOING!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I started publishing my second book, Down Thru Love: The 21st Journey in 2021. Going on my second book tour, I learned a lot from my first, with the most important lesson being, remain open to all the people you meet along the way, as they might have lasting impact on your journey. During one of the book signings at a Boston coffee shop, there was a gentleman that wasn’t a part of the book signing attendees, but simply a patron of the coffee shop, though I could tell he was listening in, as I spoke about the book and the back story of the characters. At the conclusion of my talk, I sat down to sign copies for those that had come to hear me speak about the book and purchase their copies. I saw him from afar, get in line, yet he continued to let others get in front of him, as if he wanted to be last. Once he finally made it to the signing table he said, “I would like to purchase a few of your books, but I would also like to give you a gift.” This was quite odd and out of the ordinary, but I was intrigued, and wanted to know more. He bought a copy of Down Thru Love, I signed it, and then he said, “Now for your gift I promised you.”
He held out his hand as if he wanted a handshake. I shook his hand, and as we embraced, he said softly, “The day is coming where you will have to decide if you want to remain in the rat race and climb the corporate ladder, or if you will pursue public speaking and change lives.” He went on, “I had no clue that a book signing was occurring today, but I’m so glad that I came to grab a coffee. You will have a tough decision to make someday soon. That is, do you continue to dip your toe into public speaking and writing, or do you go full throttle. In either case you will likely turn out perfectly fine, but the lives you influence or could have influenced will differ.”
He was right. It was a gift. I had gotten complacent in my career, simply happy to be in my position, writing when I could, and speaking when time permitted. That gift he gave sparked new life into my journey and refocused me on my purpose. I started MPS consulting shortly thereafter, wrote 3 more books, 9 speeches, began speaking at least twice a month, performed my first TED talk, and more. At the time I was just going along in my journey instead of owning my journey and that gift helped kick me into high gear. For that reason, I encourage everyone as they go on their journeys, keep your ears open and eyes wide, for inspiration, motivation, and truth is usually right around the corner, or in this case, just across the coffee shop.
Contact Info:
- Website: mrpierresimon.com
- Instagram: mrpierresimon
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrpierresimon/
- Twitter: mrpierresimon