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 Dan McCarthy, Mary Jo Asmus, Ken Downer, Karin Hurt and David Dye, and Art Petty.

From Dan McCarthy: Why Managers Don’t Listen (Poor Listener Syndrome): and the Cures!

“So if listening is such an important management skill and it’s an ability we were born with, why do so many managers get feedback that say they are poor listeners? That’s an issue I’ve explored with several managers when I review their 360 assessment results. Here are the seven most frequent reasons, and a prescription for each cause:”

From Mary Jo Asmus: The most important thing that can make you a better leader

“In case you need to be reminded of the importance of listening, recall a time when you weren’t listened to (it happens to all of us at some time). You had a point to make, and the person you wanted to make it to was preoccupied, or interrupted you with their point.”

From Ken Downer: Leadership Exercises: 7 Ways to Build Your Influencing Muscles

“I do think there are exercises we can do to become more effective leaders. Whether we are preparing ourseves to take on a leadership role, or wanting to become better at the one we are already in, these leadership exercises can help.”

From Karin Hurt and David Dye: 6 Ways to Ensure Your Leadership Training Makes You a Better Leader

“Leadership training isn’t about what you learned, it’s about what you do with what you learned. If you’re just back from training, here are a few tips to ensure your leadership training makes you and your team stronger.”

From Art Petty: How to Regain Control When The Job Hits Overload

“There are myriad causes of overload ranging from lousy job design to a horribly flawed workplace system to incompetent managers. Deming warned us of all three. And while it’s convenient to blame the system or mentally wonder how your manager bluffed his way into his current role, often the real issue is staring back at you in the mirror.”

That’s it for this week’s selections from independent business blogs. If you liked this piece you may enjoy my curation posts on this blog. Every Tuesday, “Leaders and Strategies in Real Life” helps you learn about leadership by studying what real leaders do. On Fridays you can wrap up your week with “Weekend Leadership Reading” consisting of choice articles on hot leadership topics culled from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms.

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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