Independent business blogs are blogs that aren’t supported by an organization like a magazine, newspaper, company, or business school. Those people provide lots of great content, but they don’t need any additional exposure. In this post, every week, I bring you posts of quality from excellent bloggers that don’t get as much publicity.

This week, I’m pointing you to posts by Anne Perschel, Karin Hurt, Lolly Daskal, Jesse Lyn Stoner, and Mary Jo Asmus.

From Anne Perschel: How Real Leaders Apologize and Mean It

“Real leaders apologize because inevitably they do things that hurt people. It might be an unfortunate side effect of a business decision, such as shutting down a plant. Dozens, hundreds, even thousands will suffer the impact. It could be a product failure that harmed customers. Sometimes it’s more personal. You step on people’s toes or say the wrong thing. We all make mistakes, but when you’re leading, the mistakes have a more wide-spread impact.”

From Karin Hurt: 7 Things Your High-Performing Employees Long To Hear You Say

“They’ve got it. You can count on them. They don’t appear to want your help. They don’t complain. You’ve got other fish to fry. But the truth is, when I meet with such high-performers and ask what they need, here’s what they tell me they long for from their boss.”

From Lolly Daskal: How to Tell You’re Dumbing Down Your Leadership

“It’s important to realize that just because someone holds a position of leadership, doesn’t necessarily mean they should lead.”

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: 7 Fail-Safe Steps to Increase Responsibility and Develop Your Team

“If you’re not offering your people the opportunity to grow – to increase their responsibility and learn new skills – you are going to lose them.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: When you’re asked to work with a coach

“In the dark beginnings of organizational coaching, coaches were often brought in to work with leaders who were poor performers. It’s rare for companies to expend resources in that way now. Today, executive coaches work with good to great performers where there is a decent chance that the coaching engagement will yield successful outcomes.”

That’s it for this week’s selections from independent business blogs. If you liked this piece you may enjoy my regular post on “Leadership Reading to Start Your Week” points you to choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms about strategy, innovation, women and the workplace, and work now and in the future. Highlights from the last issue include The Value Lurking in Your “Leadership Unconscious,” The Auto Industry’s Real Challenge, Why Technology Matters, The One Career Lesson My First Job Taught Me, What Went Awry at Wells Fargo? The Beaten Path of a Toxic Culture, and Melinda Gates new mission.

How I Select Posts for this Midweek Review

The five posts I select to share in my Midweek Review of the Independent Business Blogs are picked from a regular review of about sixty blogs I check daily and an additional twenty-five or so that I check occasionally. Here’s how I select the posts you see in this review.

They must be published within the previous week.

They must support the purpose of the blog: to help leaders at all levels do a better job and lead a better life.

They must be from an independent business blog.

As a general rule, I only select posts that stand on their own, no selections from a series.

Also as a general rule, I do not select posts that are either a book review or a book report.

I reserve the right to make exceptions to the above.

Here, on Three Star Leadership, I post things that will help a boss at any level do a better job and live a better life. At the The 360 Degree Feedback blog, I join other bloggers with posts on leadership development. And, at Wally Bock’s Writing Edge, I share tools and insights to help you write better.

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.