Katharina Balazs
Dr. Katharina Balazs is Associate Professor in the Strategy and Organization Department at ESCP Europe in Paris, France. She has a PhD (Docteur ès Sciences de Gestion) from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), and holds an MBA, an MSc and a Diploma in Coaching and Consulting for Change from INSEAD, in Fontainebleau, France. She is a member of the ICF and the International Society for the Psychological Study of Organizations, and focuses, in her executive coaching work as well as in her academic research, on the leadership, management and life-balance issues that concern professional women.
She has worked as an organisational consultant in Sweden, Denmark, France, Austria, Germany and Hungary where she has led strategic consulting assignments in companies within different business sectors. In her consulting work, Dr. Balazs has specialised on strategic and cross-cultural management issues in companies undergoing international mergers and acquisitions. She has also been active as a research associate in the Department of Leadership and Entrepreneurship at INSEAD.
With a cultural background in Hungary, Austria and Sweden, Dr. Balazs has lived in France for the past nine years. She has also taught at INSEAD, Sciences Po and HEC and is active in Executive Development in a large number of global organisations in various countries. She is also active as an organisational consultant designing strategies for improving individual and organisational performance in multicultural organisations.
She is the author and co-author of several books, scientific articles, cases, and research papers on leadership, organisational excellence, downsizing, and organisation transformation and change. Her other research interests are how the various generations (Baby boomers, X, Y) function together in today's workplace, entrepreneurship, cross-cultural management and creativity, and innovation in organisations. Her current research on the great chefs of France focuses upon the roles of leadership and innovation in achieving organisational excellence, with a book entitled “Some Like it Haute: Leadership Lessons of the Great Chefs”.
Areas of expertise include:
- Women and leadership
- Improving individual and organisational performance in multicultural organisations
- Leadership and management issues among different generations (Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y) in the workplace
- Coaching through transitions
- Leadership coaching