For Immediate Release
Leaders Are Made: Developing Emotion-Based Leadership Drives Business Success "The best surgeons, the best actors, the best athletes, the best engineers are the product of long years of training and practice. Why should leaders be different?" observes Stephen Balzac, president of
7 Steps Ahead, and author of "
The 36-Hour Course in Organizational Development," published by McGraw-Hill.
"Arguing that leaders are born is simply an excuse for bad leadership," Balzac continues.
The mark of a beginning athlete is trying to win with brute force. That works with other beginners, but fails with experienced players. Leaders who try to lead through the crude application of rewards (bribes) and punishments (coercion) are the equivalent of those beginning athletes. It may work in the short-term, but it fails when you get to the big leagues. No one comes to work wanting to do a bad job, at least at the start. But business after business complains of having unmotivated employees or of having to constantly push people to work hard.
"Emotion-based leadership is the way out of the trap of leading through rewards and punishments," says Balzac. "Rewards and punishments alone is like standing in the back and pushing. Emotion-based leadership is standing in the front and building a workforce that is so excited and so dedicated that they'll trample you if you don't move forward. If you're standing in the back, you're not leading the way."
How do leaders develop emotion-based leadership? How did Michael Jordan become a great basketball player? Through appropriate education, training, and practice. It doesn't matter how hard you work if you're not doing it right, and when you do it right it's amazing how easy it gets.
If no one is following, you're not leading. What can you do, right now, to become a better leader?
About Steve Balzac Stephen R. Balzac, "
The Business Sensei," is an author, consultant, and professional speaker. He is the president of
7 Steps Ahead, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in helping leaders grow their organizations.
Steve's background in engineering, management, psychology, martial arts, and competitive sports makes him 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." Steve is a contributing author to
Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values Through Play and the author of the
36-Hour Course in Organizational Development published by McGraw-Hill. He is a frequent guest on
radio shows including Motivational Minds and Leadership Radio, and is frequently
quoted in a variety of publications including
IndustryWeek Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the
Boston Business Journal.
He also holds an appointment as an adjunct professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
For further information or to arrange an interview, contact: