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 Karin Hurt, David Dye, Art Petty, Julie Winkle Giulioni, Kate Nasser, and Lolly Daskal.

From Karin Hurt and David Dye: Losing Well: 7 Questions to Ask When You Don’t Get the Win

“The truth is, you can’t win well, without losing well–repeatedly. If you’re not losing some of the time, you’re not winning.”

From Art Petty: Ten Key Behaviors of Good Operators in Business

“Too often we are looking for visionaries to solve our problems, and overlooking the power and potential of good operators. Instead of focusing on the fundamentals of management and leadership, we are hoping for some form of business miracle.”

From Julie Winkle Giulioni: Management by Talking Around

“Fast forward three decades, and just ‘being there’ has become table stakes. Now leaders must really leverage those moments with others, and the most natural and effective tool for accomplishing this is conversation.”

From Kate Nasser: Prevent 20+ Defensive Reactions That Kill Business Relationships

“Imagine a customer, colleague, co-worker, an employee, or teammate telling you they are not pleased with something you’ve done. The very next words you say will determine if or how you will collaborate in the future. Beware these damaging defensive replies:”

From Lolly Daskal: 7 Secrets First-Time Leaders Want to Know

“The art of leadership can be defined in many ways. There are probably as many definitions of leadership as there are leaders, and each person brings their style of leadership, which is part of what makes it such a dynamic and interesting field. But at some point, most of them say, ‘I had no idea it would be this way.’ Some even complain that they came unprepared for their roles because schools of management and leadership did not give them the skills they needed to succeed as leaders. So here are some lessons in Leadership 101:”

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 three articles on the state and future of media, Mary Barra on what every B-School graduate should know, innovation lessons from Bohemian Rhapsody, Sheryl Sandberg on the myth of the catty woman, and beyond the holacracy hype.

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.