Arkadi Kuhlmann

President and CEO of ING Direct

Rock Then Roll: The Secrets of Culture-Driven Leadership

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THE LATEST: Arkadi Kuhlmann's new book, Rock the Roll: The Secrets of Culture-Driven Leadership, offers strategies in a new corporate world mixing tech, entertainment and business. More HERE.

Arkadi Kuhlmann may be the most important business thinker you've never heard of. With his company, ING Direct, he has kickstarted a banking revolution and created one of the most admired companies in the world. Starting from scratch, ING Direct is now America's largest Internet bank. It's also one of the thirty largest in the world. But the ING Direct story that Kuhlmann tells is not about banking. It's about a new approach to business strategy. It's about the power of disruptive ideas. And it has valuable lessons for virtually any business audience.

On stage and in his groundbreaking book, The Orange Code: How ING Direct Succeeded by Being a Rebel with a Cause, Kuhlmann shares the secrets to the company's staggering success. He focuses on how the ING Direct Brand -- from the moment of inception -- permeated leadership, strategy and marketing; essentially, it's about how he transformed branding into a potent strategic template. Kuhlmann has helped change the role of enterprise into something more: not just a company, but a cause. ING Direct is about saving money for the everyday customer, and the brand reflects this at every turn. Kuhlmann believes that business strategy, at its very core, must be about advocacy. The values a company stands for are as important as the products they sell. In his inspiring talks, Kuhlmann explores this approach to business strategy and management. His expertise ranges from marketing to customer service to leadership -- any aspect of what it takes to build a successful company.

Arkadi Kuhlmann Speech Topics

The Orange Code

Following the immense success of ING Direct with his book The Orange Code: How ING Direct Succeeded by Being a Rebel with a Cause, Arkadi Kuhlmann is one of the world's leading experts on corporate culture as branding. ING Direct's message is clear: "save your money". They reflect this mantra in everything they do. If you build your company to stand for a purpose, customers will notice -- and they'll remain loyal. From advertisements, to product lines to turning away customers who do not fit their vision, ING Direct is a proven example of brand strength. Kuhlmann, with frank honesty and unrivaled experience, explains that a business can be so much more than just a provider of services. It can be an idea, a cause -- and a force.

Rock Then Roll: The Secrets of Culture-Driven Leadership

In this talk, Arkadi Kuhlmann provides a roadmap to the new culture-driven business world. The traditional model of top-down corporate leadership is obsolete. In an interconnected and ever-changing marketplace, business creativity is now the driving force behind bottom-line success. Only by creating a unique business culture, says Kuhlmann, can you spur innovation and inspire leadership in everyone from C-level to entry level. How can you exploit the power of disruptive ideas? What are the true catalysts for creating leaders from within? How can you create--and most importantly, maintain--a unique business culture that attracts both customers and talent alike? Drawing from his experiences at ING Direct, Kuhlmann's message can help business people of all experience levels--from CEO's to start-up entrepreneurs--create their own culture to drive leadership, increase employee satisfaction and achieve business success.

VIDEOS

LINKS

Rock Then Roll - Official Website

The Orange Code - Official Website

BOOKS

Rock then Roll: The Secrets of Culture-Driven Leadership

The Orange Code: How ING Direct Succeeded by Being a Rebel with a Cause

ARTICLES

"ING Direct's Man on a Mission" - Time

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