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 Julie Winkle Giulioni, Nina Simosko, Marcella Bremer, Mary Jo Asmus, and Lolly Daskal

From Julie Winkle Giulioni: Give ‘Em Some Space (For Possibilities)

“A significant dimension of leadership is coaching… engaging in conversations that help others make the leap from where they are to where they want (or need) to be. Whether the focus is on correcting a performance problem, expanding capacity, improving relationships, or developing within one’s career, coaching is a powerful tool for supporting others as they grow, achieve, and realize their full potential.”

From Nina Simosko: Innovation – It’s Like Juggling Chainsaws

“Almost every leader I know has an ‘innovation backlog’– a collection of great ideas, opportunities and plans that never get implemented. Time is too short. Implementation takes too long. Or our focus on quarterly goals narrows our ability to accelerate and incubate new projects. There is always a reason – or excuse – to file an innovative idea away for later.”

From Marcella Bremer: Managers and Musicians: Leading By Being Present

“Can musicians teach managers how to be better leaders? Maybe not. Teaching implies a top-down approach: transferring insights from one person to the other. But managers can learn from musicians. Learning implies a bottom-up process: pulling out, becoming aware of what is already present inside… Join me, as I learn from musicians in this workshop with an orchestra!.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: 10 ways to foster relationships in 10 minutes or less

“Many leaders don’t take the time to nurture relationships with their stakeholders. Making the effort to do that that will develop the relationships necessary for their – and their organization’s – success.”

From Lolly Daskal: 19 Annoying Habits You Must Break To Be a Better Leader

“We all tend to judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions, but one of the things required of great leaders is a significant level of self-awareness. You have to be able to step back and assess your own behavior, just as you would a team member’s, and look objectively at how that behavior influences your team and its work. Here are some of the most common things leaders do to annoy and alienate the people around them.”

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 why unicorns are staying private, three articles about industry 4.0, striving for innovation success in the 21st Century, how the experience of women in tech is different from other women, and four organizational mistakes that plague modern knowledge workers.

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.