Blanka’s interest in leadership dates back to her teenage years when she actively participated in the 1989 Velvet Revolution that led to the demise of the socialist regime in Czechoslovakia. In 2017, Blanka established Leadership Associates – a leadership development company focusing on neurocoaching and transformational leadership. Blanka supports individuals and groups to reconnect with their intuitive knowledge, expand beyond their habitual ways of dealing with issues and transform limitations into opportunities. Her unique approaches blend cutting-edge transformational neuro-coaching methods with leadership development tools grounded in adult development coaching, and complexity science. A mother of two boys, Blanka divides her time between Vienna and Prague. She enjoys practicing yoga and hiking.

Expertise

• Rapid Transformational Neurocoaching
• Executive Coaching 
• Leadership Development
• Complexity

Education

• PhD on Conflict Resolution, Negotiation and Mediation (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) 
• MA in International Relations (Fletcher School, Tufts University, USA)

Certifications and Professional Development

• International Coaching Federation, Associated Certified Coach (PCC) – 2024
• Cynefin and Cynefin methods for navigating complexity with Dave Snowden – 2017, 2024
• Growth Edge Conversations Coaching, Jennifer Garvey Berger – 2023
• Team Coaching, University of Cambridge – 2023 
• Estuarine Mapping with Anna Panagiotou – 2023 
• Lectical Decision Making Assessment – 2018, re-certified 2021
• Neuro-coaching – Heart of Trauma, Bonnie Badenoch – 2021 
• Emotional and Body Wisdom, Hendricks Institute – 2019-2021
• Leadership Embodiment, Coaches Rising – 2019-2021
• Energy Systems Constellations, Jana Thann – 2020
• Leadership Circle 360° feedback leadership development instrument – 2019
• Rapid Transformational Therapy, Marisa Peer – 2019 
• Adult development, The Leadership Circle, Jennifer Garvey Berger – 2018
• Playing Big Coaching with a focus on women’s leadership – 2017
• Transformational Self-Leadership, Master Course, Anne Caspari, Mindshiftintegral – 2016
• Organizational Development, Hamburg University with Prof. Claus Nowak – 2012
• Conflict Negotiation and Mediation, Harvard University – 2001 

Coaching Education and Lecturing

• FHWien (WIFI Wien) – Coaching (together with Bernhard Kerres)

Memberships 

• International Coaching Federation (former Member of ICF Austria Board)

Languages

English, German, Czech

Bio

Dr. Bellak started her professional career with leading companies in the financial sector (Swiss Re, Allianz). Later she followed her heart and joined international organizations including the OSCE and the UN to work on conflict and peace issues and capacity development. In 2014, Dr. Bellak became the Director of an award-winning training and research centre on peace and conflict in Austria, and in 2017 she established Leadership Associates. Leadership Associates works with UN agencies and global corporations such as Google, Bosch and consulting companies to deliver executive and transformational coaching and leadership development experiences. Dr. Bellak has published with leading universities (Oxford, Harvard) and think tanks (CEPS, Oxford Analytica). She works in English, German, and Czech languages. 

Dr. Blanka Bellak works with leaders who want to sail through troubled waters with integrity, healthy self-confidence, and mastery. She specializes in methods that go beyond the cognitive realm. She supports her clients in integrating mind, emotions and body for authentic leadership and wellbeing so that they can navigate complex situations with mastery. She draws on her extensive intercultural executive experience and academic background, including a Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution and publications with leading universities such as Oxford and Harvard.