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 why leadership is a choice, praise, being a tough leader, why workplace teams struggle, and succeeding as a flat organization..

From Lolly Daskal: Leadership Is by Choice, Not Chance

“Choice is freedom. It’s about knowing what we excel at, what we are strong at, in what our heart inclines us to, and it leads us to carry those things forward and share them with others—not by compulsion, but by our own inner inclinations.”

From Chris Edmonds: Ouch! Thank you

“Do team members in your department get enough praise? They’re probably doing good work. They’re applying their skills towards the accomplishment of team goals. Their efforts and results deserve recognition.”

From Dan McCarthy: Great Leadership: You Can be a Tough Leader and not be an S.O.B,

“Have you ever heard this said about a manager: ‘Well, he gets results, but leaves a trail of bodies in his wake’ The thing that drives me crazy is way too many organizations (and people) accept this as OK. You know, you can get results and treat people with respect – the two are not mutually exclusive!”

From Art Petty: Why Workplace Teams Struggle—And What to Do About It

“Many workplace teams I observe are not much better than the typical nightmarish college class group project that most of us have lived through at one time or another”

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: The 4 Practices of Successful Flat Organizations

“non-hierarchical leadership without supporting practices leads to chaos, not a self-organizing, successful organization. These four practices provide the vehicle to move forward. Without them, you will end up with flat tires, not a successful flat organization.”

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 Forget the Strategy PowerPoint, When Big Data Meets Manufacturing, Even Good Employees Hoard Great Ideas, What women in tech do to thrive, and What “Boss-less” Firms Can Teach Us.

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 better and live a better life. At Results vs
Activities, I join other bloggers with posts on talent development.

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.