05 — About
Alexander Balabanov, PhD
Founder | Leadership Development
Science-Backed Leadership & High-Performance Culture
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Background
15 years inside organisations. 12 years designing programmes.
I have spent 15 years working with leaders and their teams — 12 of them designing and leading development programmes — from first-time team leads to executive boards, in Bulgaria, Malta and internationally. I measure each programme per manager, before and after.
Much of my recent work is with organisations where strong specialists are promoted into leading people: the engineer, the analyst or the technician whose title arrives long before the skill.
Research
From doctoral research to the psychological delta.
I hold a PhD in Organizational Development. My doctoral research examined objective markers of managerial performance under coaching: the foundation for measuring leadership development with numbers rather than impressions.
My current paper, Psychological Delta: The Within-Person Performance Reserve and the Limits of the External Talent Market, was presented at the XIX Vanguard Scientific Instruments in Management conference in September 2026. It argues that roughly half of the differences in job performance sit inside the same person, and compares hiring and development on one monetary scale.
Read the research →In brief
Credentials.
- Education
- PhD in Organizational Development
- Experience
- 15 years in leadership and organisational development · 12 years designing and leading programmes
- Role
- Founder, DynamixLab Ltd
- Research
- Psychological Delta, presented at the XIX Vanguard Scientific Instruments in Management conference, September 2026
- Languages
- English, Bulgarian
- Based
- Sofia · Malta · International
How I work
How I work.
I measure before I train. A programme without a baseline is a guess. Every engagement starts with a number, and ends with the same number measured again.
I install, not lecture. Managers leave with tools they use the same week: a delegation method, feedback scripts, a weekly rhythm. The tools stay after I leave.
I protect your people's data. Results are reported at team level, and development data never goes into appraisals.
I keep clients confidential. You will not find client names on this site. I describe my experience by sector, and I would describe yours the same way.
— Alexander
Experience by sector
Sectors I work in.
- Automotive
- Aviation & aerospace maintenance
- Banking
- Software & IT
- Industrial & manufacturing
- Pharmaceuticals
- Data & analytics
- Elite sport
References
In their words.
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“His presentation on Emotional Intelligence was a dynamic and intelligent mixture of science, knowledge, practical demonstrations and very relevant humour.”
Chief Expert, Learning & DevelopmentBank · annual business conference
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“A reliable, flexible and quick to react trainer delivering very well structured and interactive trainings which generate very positive participant experience, no matter delivered in-person or virtually.”
Head of People & CultureGlobal enterprise software company
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“The interactive session kept us engaged for every single minute of our time together and we all left at the end with high energy, higher level of understanding and better perception of ownership of our own emotions.”
Head of HR and Site Operations ManagerInternational data & analytics company
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“We were truly impressed with his ability to be flexible and adaptive to the needs of the audience as he had to react appropriately on some last minute circumstances. The feedback from the team was truly positive.”
Country HR Business PartnerInternational IT consulting company
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“The trainings are interactive, with specific examples and tasks that are easily remembered by the representatives and more importantly they can be applied in the contacts with the clients the next day.”
Manager South-East EuropePharmaceutical company
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“Alexander impresses with his strictness, responsibility and professionalism. He is a person who does not compromise when it comes to getting the job done.”
Program ManagerSocial-impact foundation
Client names are withheld by confidentiality policy. Quotes are excerpts from written references by HR leaders and sponsors.
In the room
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