Speech Titles:
- Cartesian Splits & Chinese Splits
- Relaxation to Rev Up and Rev Down
- Why Goal Setting Doesn't Work (and what to do about it)
Biographical Information:
Stephen R. Balzac is the president of 7 Steps Ahead, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in increasing 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. He was responsible for managing and recruiting technical staff, mentoring, coordinating the activities of multiple departments in the company, and shipping their flagship product. Steve was also the founder of the MIT Assassins' Guild and the Society for Interactive Literature West, where he led the development of numerous roleplaying simulations. He recently created a Pandemic Flu simulation for the US National Capitol Region. He has spoken at several conferences and appeared on panels on computer game design. His articles have appeared in Metagame, The Journal of Interactive Drama, and The IBM Systems Journal.
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. 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 martial arts training.
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.
