Unconventional insights for businesses seeking to dominate their industry
USA
Ken Schmidt is a renowned speaker and thought leader on competition, brand management, and reputation management.
Request fees and availability5 out of 5 stars
Ken Schmidt was wonderful. We have heard so many positive comments from our attendees. I thoroughly enjoyed his insight and common sense approach to business. It really resonated when he mentioned that consumers are loyal to the people behind the business. His humanistic, common sense approach to business relates to all types of businesses.
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About Ken
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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“No matter what we sell, make, or do, we’re a commodity to people who don’t know us,” says Ken Schmidt. Companies who understand that and change their mindset to engage customers differently will win big. Authenticity stands out in today’s impersonal world and Ken unpacks a roadmap for creating an unshakable emotional connection with customers. This talk is rooted in the ideas that drove Harley-Davidson’s incredible transformation and return to dominance as Ken and his team led the company’s shift away from focusing on product features and instead leaned into the key drivers of human behavior. As it did, H-D’s sales, profitability, and loyalty skyrocketed. Ken’s high energy and humor punctuate this talk as he shows businesses of every size and scope how to align everyone in the organization around a set of values that ignite customer passion, maximize sales growth, and stand out in their marketplace.
TAKEAWAYS:
“How do you want to be talked about and what are you doing to make that happen?” Ken Schmidt reminds people that we are a story-telling species and getting noticed by customers or even in your own organization is about being memorable. Saying or doing what people expect doesn’t make you – or your business – stand out. In this talk Ken shows how to make a lasting impact. It starts with answering three key questions about how you want to be remembered. Ken reminds audiences that what people remember about you is dependent on how you make them feel about themselves. It’s more important to be interested – not interesting. Ken shares lessons learned from a celebrated career at Harley-Davidson and beyond to show how to build a personal brand that will fast track your career in today’s dynamic landscape.
TAKEAWAYS:
I want to tell you how much people enjoyed your keynote. The LeadsCon/Access Intelligence staff and the other speakers I connected with specifically mentioned your talk as the highlight of the program. People loved it, and it was clear to see why. Your delivery was energetic and inspiring – the content was top-notch and thought-provoking.
Really well done and appreciate you making your talk relevant to our company. I had people sending me chats and emails afterward, commenting how much they enjoyed your session. And I could have climbed through the screen and hugged you when you told our employees they did God's work and that you wanted to invest in us in your closing.
Your message was both right on and well delivered. Lots of great comments from our field leaders. Thanks for being so easy to work with, for all the advance effort you put in to understanding our business and for hanging around to speak with our people. Let’s do it again!
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