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.

Sometimes the stars align and several posts on the same topic show up on my screen. That’s what happened this week. The posts below are all about communication for leaders and about leadership. You’ll get the most from them if you read them together. I’m pointing you to posts by Lolly Daskal, Tanveer Naseer, Chris Edmonds, Mick Yates, and Jesse Lyn Stoner.

From Lolly Daskal: In The Words Of A Leader

“Words are powerful tools for leadership, but they must be used well. A leader’s words can inspire or hurt, cause laughter or tears, encourage or cut down. How can you best use your words?”

From Tanveer Naseer: Understanding The Power Of Our Words

“The interesting thing about this question is that there’s no right answer and that, if anything, it reveals more about the respondent and their perception and relationship to the world around them. For myself, I would say our greatest invention is language and our use of words to communicate with one another.”

From Chris Edmonds: Nurture Your Team’s Narrative

“Most teams don’t have an effective story. That’s usually because most leaders – of teams, departments, divisions, and companies – don’t understand why their team needs one or how to craft one. If leaders don’t create and reinforce their team’s desired narrative, individuals are left to craft one on their own.”

From Mick Yates: Effective Communication: The Success Secret of Great Leaders

“To succeed in life you will need to be able to communicate effectively; this is more than just being able to talk. It is the ability to convey ideas and inspire others with your vision. The most successfully leaders are passionate and driven; this shows in how they communicate with others.”

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: Are You Unconsciously Perpetuating an Outdated View of Leadership?

“Although my blog post The 40 Best Leadership Quotes has had almost 20,000 views, over 1600 social shares, and many comments, no one seems to have noticed that 85% of the quotes are by women. Since most of the ‘best leadership quotes’ lists include less than 10% women, you might think a list of 85% would be conspicuous.”

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 putting the “we” in leadership, how drivers reap benefits of trucking boom, how design thinking uses story and prototyping, five great pieces of advice from Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, and integrating work and life.

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.

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