Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Peak-Performance-as-Process.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Peak-Performance-as-Process.html Consistent peak performance is not a “one-off.” It’s the process of maintaining a consistent level of excellence. That means continual dedication to learning, growing and developing... http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Black-Belt-Leadership-for-the-Executive-Wisdom.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Black-Belt-Leadership-for-the-Executive-Wisdom.html Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge expanded by experience. Wisdom is the product of knowledge, learning, courage, perseverance, reflection, adaptation, and self-perfection with equal parts of blood, sweat and tears to season the experience... http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Black-Belt-Leadership-for-the-Executive-Compassion.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Black-Belt-Leadership-for-the-Executive-Compassion.html What about those times when you have to be cruel to be kind? In the C-Suite you face some very difficult decisions. You must sometimes fire a top performer who has crossed the line with subordinates. You might lay off 100 good people to save the jobs of 1,000 others. You might have to firmly criticize your most loyal employee... http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Leadership-for-the-Black-Belt-Executive-Courage.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Leadership-for-the-Black-Belt-Executive-Courage.html Courage in management is an essential quality for an effective and innovative organization. You’ve got to be willing to take risk. You’ve got to be willing to do the right thing - even when the right thing is tough or expensive. You’ve got to be able to make tough, unpopular and sometimes painful decisions... http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Discipline-in-3-Days.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Discipline-in-3-Days.html This post isn’t about achieving goals- it’s about developing the discipline to pursue those goals whether you achieve them or not. Sometimes your efforts will lead you in a different direction. Disciplined people take advantage of new opportunities and sometimes adjust their goals; they never stop advancing through actionable steps... http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Think-Like-a-Black-Belt-in-your-Social-Media-Marketing.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Think-Like-a-Black-Belt-in-your-Social-Media-Marketing.html Social media marketing is the most economical, effective and egalitarian means of promotion ever invented. The internet gives each of us an equal shot at sharing our talents and abilities with the world- if we do it right... http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/The-Excellence-Myth.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/The-Excellence-Myth.html Excellence means reaching the highest levels of performance, production, and creativity that you can achieve. Compare yourself to others and you’ll always find people better or worse than you are; that’s incidental. Compare who you are today to who you were yesterday; that’s a meaningful comparison. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Where-innovation-and-creativity-come-fromin-business-and-real-life-too.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Where-innovation-and-creativity-come-fromin-business-and-real-life-too.html Innovation never appears out of a vacuum. You need the Black Belt Mindset trait of Wisdom to be a creative and innovative person. Wisdom is that combination of knowledge, experience and awareness that opens your mind, as well as your eyes and ears, to new possibilities... http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Celebrate-Adversity.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Celebrate-Adversity.html You don’t always choose your battles. You can, of course, actively seek out increasing challenges. When those challenges are thrown at you without your consent, we call that “adversity.” http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Business-advice-from-Black-Belts--Part-3-Jackie-Chan--Of-course-Im-scared-Im-not-Superman.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Business-Consulting/2080/Business-advice-from-Black-Belts--Part-3-Jackie-Chan--Of-course-Im-scared-Im-not-Superman.html What a lot of people don’t know about Jackie Chan is that he grew up in poverty. When his parents found better work in Australia, Jackie was enrolled in the famed China Drama Academy. There he would learn acting and the physical skills that would eventually make him one of the world’s most famous stunt-men...