Biography

Stephen R. Balzac, "The Business Sensei," is a professional speaker and consultant. He is the president of 7 Steps Ahead, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in helping organizations get unstuck and transform problems into opportunities.

Engineer, athlete, psychology professor, martial artist and manager, Steve brings a diverse and unique set of experiences to his presentations. He is a fourth degree black belt in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu and a former nationally ranked fencer. His professional career includes 20 years in the high tech industry as an engineer, manager, entrepreneur, and consultant. He speaks frequently on topics ranging from leadership and motivation to computer game design,and has been a guest lecturer at MIT and WPI. His articles have appeared in a number of journals, including The Journal of Interactive Drama, The IBM Systems Journal, Enterprise Management Quarterly, Corp! Magazine, Mass High Tech, and the Worcester Business Journal. Steve is the author of "The 36-Hour Course in Organizational Development," published by McGraw-Hill.

Building effective development organizations, improving team morale, focus, and enthusiasm, developing effective communications between team members, reducing employee turnover, helping businesses identify and attain strategic targets, and applying sport psychology techniques to business have been some of his most successful projects.

"It was a pleasure meeting and hearing you speak at the Society of Professional Consultants Breakfast of Champions seminar: “Dealing With Organizational Conflict: A Seminar for Consultants” on Wednesday morning. You’re wonderful. I cannot believe how much I learned in 1 ½ hours!"

Manny Correia, former Chief Administrative Officer, Harvard Management Company, Inc.

Steve speaks on a variety of topics. Some of his most frequently requested talks include:

Zen and the Art of Leadership: Succeeding by Knowing When, And How, to Not Care

In sports and martial arts, victory most often goes to the athlete who knows when to care and when to not care about winning. In business, knowing when and how to not care is critical to creating a successful team. We’ll cover the nine steps you can use to build your team. You will learn how to make them worthy of your trust and you worthy of theirs so that you can turn them loose with the knowledge that they will succeed (view this talk online).

It’s a Marathon: Seven Techniques for Increasing Motivation

As the old saying goes, “Success is a marathon, not a sprint.” The problem with marathons is that they’re long, frequently painful, and exhausting. So is building a successful business. Learn the seven techniques that businesses can use to boost employee motivation and productivity.

Organizational Culture and Innovation: A Two-Edged Sword

IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot are all famous examples of companies whose innovative approaches and products changed the world. Yet, each of these companies also allowed upstart competitors to take over their once secure markets: Amazon.com, not Wal-Mart, became the “Wal-Mart of the Web.” What happened? This presentation focuses on how organizational culture can both foster and strangle innovation and highlights techniques businesses can use to build and maintain a creative, innovative workforce.

Why Teams Fail

In today’s high-tech workplace, it is virtually impossible to not be part of a team. Projects are too big, too complex, too involved for a single person to do it all. Yet far too often people find teamwork to be frustrating and exhausting. Even when the team successfully ships a product, team members often feel burned out, frustrated, or surprisingly unhappy with their accomplishment. Learn the three common beliefs that can kill your team and how to turn them into strengths.

Making Change Work

They say that people don’t like to change. Well, “they” are wrong. People don’t like being changed and they don’t like unpredictable change. You probably wouldn’t go on a trip if you had no idea where you were going, yet the equivalent is what businesses all too often ask of their employees. Fortunately, there is a way to make change work. Learn how to get your employees to not just agree to change, but become enthusiastic supporters of it.

Interview For Success – How to Find, and Land, Your Dream Job

ob hunting is frustrating, stressful, and, in today’s economy, often agonizingly slow. Just getting a call back is difficult, much less getting an interview. This talk focuses on key elements of landing the job you want. Learn how to identify the value you bring to your employer and leverage that value to make you stand out from the competition: skills make you a commodity; value makes you unique. The talk also covers how to avoid getting caught in the Black Hole of Resumes, how to get into the mind of the interviewer, dealing with difficult questions, and key questions every candidate should ask.

Cartesian Splits and Chinese Splits

Why do some people perform perfectly well in practice, but crack under competition pressure? Why are some people who are comfortable in cerebral pursuits become hopelessly lost when engaged in sports? We’ll discuss the intuitive nature of sport performance and cover the techniques any athlete can use to build or increase their “sport intuition.”