Steve Blue, the Super-CEO and Speaker

Today, Steve Blue, author and speaker, talks about ensuring that your team is the best it can be in today's interview segment: Not Everyone Gets to be a Star. Steve is a CEO, author, and keynote speaker. He has vast experience in transforming sleepy little businesses into global goliaths. In one case, he increased margins by over 60%. In another, he tripled profits using his Pay As You Grow SM system, which means growing earnings without the need for outside capital and while maintaining dividends. Steve has 19 years experience in markets all over the world. In that time he has formed very successful international ventures and transformed businesses with no international presence into global powerhouses. In one case, he increased a company’s international sales from 0 to 24% of total sales. Steve spent 7 years in a turnaround where the organization had to make choices between paying employees or the utility bill. That is where he developed his skills in strict operational control and cash management. While he was there the company returned to profitability and along the way he transformed the worst performing division to the best in less than 2 years. Steve is considered an expert in high stakes negotiations. He once negotiated a seemingly impossible union agreement resulting in deep wage cuts and the right to outsource…all without taking a strike. That is why the Harvard Business School invited him to give a lecture on it…not to the students, but to the professors. Steve started his career as a factory supervisor and quickly became known as the “go to” problem solving guy. He would routinely fix under-performing departments, which is where he gained a deep knowledge of most functional areas of a company. And in every assignment he substantially increased productivity and reduced cost. He has worked in industries as diverse as publishing and industrial automation.