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 Harold Jarche, Michael Bungay Stanier, Susan Mazza, Suzi McAlpine, and Mary Jo Asmus.

From Harold Jarche: life in the jungle

“In our efforts to tame complexity we constantly look for ways to simplify decision-making. It’s why best practices and case studies are still popular, despite their uselessness. It reminds me of a client who proudly declared that his company was a ‘fast follower’. Followers in the jungle are eaten or survive as scavengers. I have looked at this phenomenon from several perspectives and have incorporated other views, such as from Niels Pflaeging and Esko Kilpi. All of these perspectives have some things in common:”

From Michael Bungay Stanier: How do You Improve Workplace Communication? Ask Questions

“Sometimes the best way to have a constructive conversation is to give a little less advice and ask a few more questions.”

From Susan Mazza: A Simple Way to Rise to Your Next Level of Leadership

“We all have a next level of leadership we can aspire to. For some, what that next level actually looks like is crystal clear; but for most, it’s more of a concept than a clearly defined end state.”

From Suzi McAlpine: How a Lake, a Quote, and a Childhood Memory Reminded Me of a Fundamental Truth About Leadership

“Songs, places, smells, phrases – they all whoosh me – sometimes gently, sometimes with a shove – into a moment from my past. That’s what happened last week.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: How to avoid starring in your own drama

“As human beings, we swim in daily drama. As leaders, any drama we’re involved in gets played out publicly. And there are lots of people out there who can’t wait to tell others about it, whether they get the background story right or not. It can be embarrassing, shameful, and can even result in a leader’s downfall.”

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 leadership’s most important secret, why organizations need Chief Knowledge Curators, what’s new with the Internet of Things. a strategist’s guide to artificial intelligence, how women make big decisions, the emotional sophistication tomorrow’s leaders will need, and how to determine if your company’s diversity training is making you more biased.

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.

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