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 LaRae Quy, Lolly Daskal, Art Petty, Kate Nasser, and Kevin Eikenberry

From LaRae Quy: How To Outsmart Your Brain And Live A Better Life

“Leadership starts in our mind, and only by understanding how our mind works, can we lead ourselves, and others, in an effective manner. When we’re under pressure, our brain’s natural behavior will dictate how we react. A pressure-packed situation involves high stakes, emotions are heightened, and our reaction is often automatic and unfiltered. Once we understand this, we can outsmart our brain and live a better life:”

From Lolly Daskal: How to Become a Successful Leader, Whatever You Do

“Leaders in every field want to be successful at what they do—but they don’t always know how to get there. The key to success is knowing the foundational principles of leadership. They’re the attributes that will help you stand out from the rest. Learn these principles and incorporate them into your work and life, and you will almost certainly grow to become the successful leader you want to be.”

From Art Petty: Four Conversations Essential for New Manager Success

“This misfire is the disaster that keeps on giving. Not only do you lose a valued contributor, the costs to the organization and team range from low morale and disengagement to increased turnover and reduced quality. And as the promoting manager, the damage to your credibility is significant. Your bosses trusted you to promote and develop the right person, and once that trust is lost, it’s nearly impossible to earn back. Fortunately, for all of us, there’s a solution that’s within your control. It comes in the form of four different series of conversations essential for new manager success. The conversations strive to create context, build trust, promote coaching, stimulate experimentation, and drive continuous learning and improvement. It’s time to start talking!”

From Kate Nasser: Your People Skills Readiness Seizes Every Unforeseeable Opportunity

“Your people skills readiness seizes every opportunity you can’t foresee. You never know who is looking when you interact with others. What business or career opportunity do they have for you? Will they see your current greatness and potential? Will they think you are the one they need? Consider how your people skills readiness snags the win for you.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Unlock the Power of Positive Intent

“Positive intent sounds like a good idea. As we go through our day, we generally have a positive intent in what we do, right? And yet, we sometimes wonder about others. We wonder about people’s motives and agendas. And the more we wonder, often the more negative our assumptions become. I believe that assuming positive intent in others can be a cornerstone to highly effective teamwork, higher levels of trust, and much more. That’s why I want to help you unlock the power of positive intent.”

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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