About 7 Steps Ahead

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 businesses to increase revenue and build their client base through improving individual, team, and organizational performance.

Steve has over twenty years of experience in the high tech industry and is the former Director of Operations for Silicon Genetics, in Redwood City, CA, where he was responsible for shipping their flagship product. Steve also led the development of numerous serious roleplaying simulations, including a Pandemic Flu simulation for the US National Capitol Region. He is a popular speaker on topics ranging from leadership, motivation, team building, interviewing skills, and sport performance to computer game design. He was 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, Mass High Tech, Enterprise Management Quarterly, The CEO Refresher, The Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership, Analog SF/F and the Worcester Business Journal.

A recognized thought leader, Steve regularly conducts webinars through ExecSense on topics including, "How to Become an Expert Negotiator as a CEO," "The Best Ways to Position Yourself for Your Company's Management Team," "What You Would Learn From Reading the Top Ten Business Books of All Time and How To Apply the Concepts Today," and "How To Create A Personal Brand as a Software Company Executive." Steve is a contributing author to Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values Through Play and the author of the forthcoming 36-Hour Course in Organizational Development being published by McGraw-Hill. He is a frequent guest on radio shows including Motivational Minds and Leadership Radio, and is widely quoted in a variety of publications.

Steve serves on the boards of the New England Society of Applied Psychology (NESAP) and the Society of Professional Consultants (SPC). Steve is a member of the Operations Committee of the American Judo & Jujitsu Federation. No stranger to the challenges of achieving peak performance under competitive and stressful conditions, he holds a fourth degree black belt in jujitsu and is a former nationally ranked competitive fencer. He has published numerous articles on the application of sport psychology techniques to business.

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.

Steve has bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science and engineering from MIT, and a master's degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, with a focus on motivation, performance, and group dynamics, from Capella University. He is an adjunct professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Management.