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 on an interesting take on persistence, tentative leaders, leading in uncertain times, data-driven vs. gut feel decision making, and letting go of the controls.

From Kate Nasser: Leadership: Persistence vs. Distorted Resistance to Change

“The exalted status of persistence can distort our thinking to believe there are only two options — persistence or surrender.”

From Steve Roesler: Nobody Follows A Tentative Person

“I was standing at the meat counter at the local market and watched a leadership principle unfold before me: Nobody Follows a Tentative Person.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: Leading through uncertain times

“During these uncertain times, I noticed that the best leaders were able to instill a sense of calm in their teams despite the ambiguity and threats to their own sense of stability. Here is what I observed the best of the best doing.”

From Tracy Allison Altman: The Data-Driven vs. Gut Feel hyperbole needs to stop

“Smart decision-making is more complicated than becoming’‘data-driven’, whatever that means exactly. We know people can make better decisions if they consider relevant evidence, and that process is getting easier with more data available. But too often I hear tech advocates suggest that people’s decisions are just based on gut feel, as if data will save us from ourselves.”

From Lolly Daskal: Leadership Acceptance: Letting Go Of The Controls

“When we find ourselves in crisis, we work hard to maintain control. Sometimes the best thing is to let go of the controls and just accept.”

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 how financial markets negatively influence business strategy, the hard business of restarting U.S. factories, disruptive innovation, the effect of “war” jargon on women in the workplace, and why Comcast won’t let you cancel your service.

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.