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 Scott Eblin, Ken Downer, Lolly Daskal, Karin Hurt and David Dye, and Kevin Eikenberry

From Scott Eblin: Three Ways to Raise Your Decision-Making Confidence

“The fact is that no one ever has one hundred percent of the information they’d like to have when making important decisions. There are just too many variables and unknowns. If you’re waiting for all the information, you’ll never make a decision. Making the call with a sense of grounded confidence is an essential component of successfully leading at the next level. Here, then, are three ways to build your confidence in making timely decisions.”

From Ken Downer: Leaders Go First: The Surprising Impact of Making the First Move

“A revealing study underscores the influence that those who go first can have, and I’ll share thoughts on how understanding its implications can help us become better leaders.”

From Lolly Daskal: How to Recognize a Trustworthy Leader

“How do you know when a leader is trustworthy? Here are some signs to look for.”

From Karin Hurt and David Dye: 7 Questions to Ask Yourself to Be a Better Leader

“When we work with leaders, the first questions we ask usually produce a pause, followed by a thoughtful, ‘That’s a great question.’ If you want to be a better leader, you can use these same questions to examine your motivations and focus your work. Your influence starts with how you lead yourself. Reflecting on your answers to these seven questions will give you a strong foundation to influence others:”

From Kevin Eikenberry: How to Maintain a Future Focus

“If you don’t know where you are going, how will you get there? That is the idea behind many efforts at goal setting. Undoubtedly, we must know where we want to go. But we must also continue to see that future – intentionally seeing that vision far after the excitement of setting the goal has worn off. The question is how can we maintain that future focus?”

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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