Balazs Katharina | ESCP Business School

Katharina Balazs

Associate Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Department : Management
Campus : Paris

Dr. Katharina Balazs is a Professor within the Management Department at ESCP Business School in Paris, France, where she is actively engaged in executive development, teaching, and scholarly research. She also leads her own executive development and coaching practice, partnering with top-tier executives worldwide. Her expertise spans leadership, leadership communication, executive presence, women in leadership, board dynamics, the development of diverse high-performance teams, and organizational change. Katharina Balazs is dedicated to helping executives realize their full potential and optimize their performance, thereby driving strategic value at the C-suite level. Her client portfolio includes organizations such as the World Economic Forum, Avolon, Akzo Nobel, Bech-Bruun, Boehringer Ingelheim, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, EDF, EIF, Generali, GlobalFoundries, IFF, IWF, Janssen, JTI, KBC, Kone, KPMG, Merck, Pernod-Ricard, Randstad, Siemens, Société Générale, Sonepar, Sonova, Vivendi, TÜV, Unicredit, Umicore, and the World Economic Forum. Before transitioning into leadership development, Katharina Balazs had an extensive career as a strategic consultant in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, with a specialisation in cultural and cross-cultural issues in international mergers and acquisitions (M&As). With an academic background in both humanities and business administration, Dr. Balazs holds a Ph.D. from HEC Paris, an MBA, an MSc, and an Executive Master’s degree in Coaching and Consulting for Change (EMCCC) from INSEAD. She is the author and co-author of numerous books, scientific articles, case studies, and research papers on leadership, leadership communication, executive coaching, organizational excellence, downsizing, and organizational transformation. She is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO), as well as a Certified Advisory Board Member at Sciences Po/IFA Paris. Dr. Balazs’ working languages are English, French, German, Swedish, and Hungarian.

PUBLICATIONS

Ils ont décroché les étoiles !

Pearson Education, 214 p.

Research and expertise

News & events

Events

Financial Institutions and Corporate Finance

04 June 2026 - 05 June 2025
07.00 am - 02.00 pm

Events

AI in Higher Education Summit 2026 – Paris, 17–18 March

17 - 18 March 2026
07.00 am - 05.20 pm

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Other Intellectual Contributions

2018

Understanding Why We Overreact at Work

Other Intellectual Contributions

2017

The most powerful man in the world

Chapters

2016

Forgiving: The Hidden Dimension in Exceptional Leadership Success

Other Intellectual Contributions

2016

What Leaders Can Learn from Both Clinton and Trump

Other Intellectual Contributions

2016

Forgiving: The Hidden Dimension in Exceptional Leadership Success

Academic Articles

2013

The Art of Forgiveness

Chapters

2012

Coaching in a Family Conundrum

Chapters

2011

The Shadow Side of Leadership

Chapters

2010

The Shadow Side of Leadership

Books

2009

Ils ont décroché les étoiles !

Research and expertise

News & events

Events

Events