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 Ken Downer, Art Petty, Steve Keating, LaRae Quy, and Ed Batista.

From Ken Downer: Cleaning House: 5 Leadership Messes to Clean Up Before You Let the Neighbors In

“My doorbell rang unexpectedly last week. With zero notice, the person on the front step wanted to come in and look around. My heart skipped a beat; ‘was my place presentable’ I asked myself? That got me thinking. What if we had surprise visitors to the teams we lead? Before letting them in, what embarrassing leadership messes would we want to be sure to clean up? Here are five I think we have to watch out for, and how to take care of them.”

From Art Petty: Now is the Time to Double-Down on the Fundamentals of Effective Leadership

“In the face of complexity and risk, the simplest solutions are generally the best ones. These are indeed challenging times for anyone responsible for managing and leading initiatives, teams, and functions. It might seem as if answers are hard to come by, yet, the fundamentals of effective leadership never go out of style. It’s a great time to review and then double-down on these powerful behaviors.”

From Steve Keating: So…You Say You Want to be a Leader

“Odds are there are a significant number of people reading this who want to be a leader one day. They are waiting for a promotion to ‘leader’ in their organization. Perhaps they are searching for a role with another organization that will ‘make’ them a leader.”

From LaRae Quy: How To Beat Stress In A Crisis

“Because evolution has created humans to be acutely aware of danger and negative events, our first reaction to any disruption is ‘How do I survive?’ Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory is a logical evolutionary response to a crisis. We move to a greater place of safety. I mean, who wants to be the last one on the beach looking for their flip-flops when the first wave of a tsunami crashes ashore? We need to learn how to respond with dignity and appreciation when reality doesn’t match our expectations, instead of our default reaction of fear and frustration. Here are tips on how to beat stress in a crisis:”

From Ed Batista: Tumbling Down Maslow’s Hierarchy

“Maslow’s ideas and the humanistic psychology movement that he influenced have been subject to criticism over the years, but I continue to find this body of knowledge a source of profound insight in my work as a coach with senior leaders.”

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. 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.

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