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 Art Petty, Ed Batista, Kevin Eikenberry, Terri Klass, and Kate Nasser.

From Art Petty: Finding Purpose in Your Role as a Manager

“As an executive and emerging leader coach, I run two workshop programs—one focused on new(er) managers and the other dedicated to those with ample experience. I average 400+ participants who join me for 12-hours each year, offering a significant sample size and industry and market cross-section from which to learn. The number one takeaway for me is that the best managers are driven by a purpose more significant than the next quarterly numbers. The numbers and performance indicators are barometers of their effectiveness as managers, not drivers of their actions. Purpose serves as their fuel. The source of the fuel makes a difference.”

From Ed Batista: Work with Whatever Shows Up

“Among my most important developmental experiences was the more than 1,500 hours I spent in T-groups, the experiential learning methodology developed by pioneering social psychologist Kurt Lewin in the late 1940s and deployed at Stanford (among many other places) in the 1960s. And one of the most valuable lessons I learned in that setting was: Work with whatever shows up.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Make Work Play: Changing Our Viewpoint About Work

“The word ‘work’ carries meaning for everyone – and for most people it isn’t 100% positive. Work is something we have to do. Most people say they wouldn’t work if they didn’t have to – which is one reason why people look forward to retirement so much. The synonyms for ‘work’ support this view. They include effort, struggle, obligation, exertion, sweat, toil and struggle. I suppose it isn’t surprising people can’t wait for quitting time or Friday afternoon. While all of this is the generalized view of work, what is yours?”

From Terri Klass: Six Leadership Strategies To Build A Highly Connected Team

“So what has changed for teams? The most important part of any organization- the people connection. Teams are not seeing one another in person every day. That huge shift has disrupted every organization to the core and toppled a once assumed connection that may no longer exist. Sure some teams are going into the workplace two or three days a week, and trying to recreate an interconnected space. Yet, the work environment is flowing in different ways. There is even a formality to seeing our team members through planned in-person meetings or brainstorming sessions. It can sometimes feel forced and unnatural. Walking by each other in hallways and just stopping for a few minutes to catch up is gone. That organic meet-up has virtually disappeared.”

From Kate Nasser: Conscious Collaboration: Essential Business Skills & Beliefs

“When leaders and employees in business choose conscious collaboration, they succeed. When they focus on individuals doing their jobs, their success is less. So what does it take for leaders, managers, and employees to consciously choose to collaborate?”

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. And, at my blog for part-time business book authors, I share tools and insights to help you write and publish a book you’ll be proud of.

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