Ken Schmidt is a renowned speaker, author, and thought leader on competition, brand management, and reputation management. He served as the former director of communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company and played a key role in the company's successful turnaround. With over 30 years of experience in corporate positioning and media relations, Ken has delivered over a thousand keynote speeches to business and education groups around the globe.
Why you should book Ken Schmidt for your next event
- Ken Schmidt is an expert in brand management and corporate positioning, having played a pivotal role in Harley-Davidson’s turnaround. His insights on building a strong brand and improving competitiveness can be valuable to businesses of all sizes.
- As a dynamic and entertaining speaker, Ken Schmidt engages audiences with his unconventional and unexpected point of view. He has delivered over a thousand keynote speeches to diverse business and education groups around the world.
- Ken Schmidt’s expertise in human behavior and loyalty can help organizations understand how to build stronger relationships with their customers and employees. His insights on reputation management can also help businesses navigate the challenges of today’s fast-paced and constantly changing business environment.
As the former director of communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Ken Schmidt played an active role in one of the most celebrated turnarounds in corporate history – and got paid to ride motorcycles. Ken Schmidt is widely known and respected as one of the business world’s most outspoken, provocative, and entertaining thought leaders on competition, brand management, positioning, reputation management, human behavior, and loyalty, and has delivered more than one thousand keynote speeches to business and education groups around the globe. His newest book (released November, 2018), “Make Some Noise: The Unconventional Road to Dominance,” teaches how to improve business and personal competitiveness and is shared from his, as always, extraordinarily unexpected point of view.
The longtime motorcycle enthusiast’s formal association with Harley-Davidson began in 1985. As a specialist in corporate positioning and media relations, he was asked to work with the then-struggling Harley-Davidson to help restore the company’s image, improve its competitiveness and create demand for its motorcycles. Within a few short years, as sales of its motorcycles rocketed upward, Harley-Davidson became one of the most respected, competitively dominant, profitable, and frequently reported-on companies in the world.
In 1990, Schmidt became director of Harley-Davidson’s corporate and financial communications, and served as its primary spokesperson to the media and the financial communities. He appeared numerous times on network news programs and was frequently called upon by business media to share his insights on nontraditional communications, customer attraction and brand-building. Speaking engagements around the world soon followed.
See keynotes with Ken Schmidt