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 Mary Jo Asmus, Karin Hurt, Art Petty, Lolly Daskal, and Alli Polin.

From Mary Jo Asmus: The dawn of the dead, only better

“There is something about you that you’ve either consigned to your deep unconscious or you’ve been ignoring it because it’s too painful. But you’re starting to notice that you aren’t at your best as a leader, and you need to know more about it before you can move forward. It’s called a blind spot but it’s a lot like the undead.”

From Karin Hurt: 5 Ways Over-Aligning With Your Boss Can Damage your Credibility

“like other good things in life, a great boss relationship, taken to extremes, can wreak havoc with your career. I’ve seen otherwise smart and talented people lose credibility by over-aligning with a great boss. Be sure to diversify your relationship investments. Perhaps you’ll recognize these career-derailing missteps.”

From Art Petty: For Managers—The Performance Potential of a Strong Feedback Culture

“Now, imagine there was a tool at your disposal that would help reinforce in real-time the behaviors of group members that moved the performance numbers in the right direction. Or, a tool that would get people motivated to learn, grow, and leave behind less-than-ideal behaviors in favor of new approaches and continuous improvement. Wouldn’t this be helpful?”

From Lolly Daskal: 7 Powerful Reasons Why Smart People Doubt Themselves

“Almost everyone struggles with self-doubt at some point or another. And almost everyone thinks they’re the only one who does.”

From Alli Polin: When You Feel the Fear, Do This Instead

“I’ve been away for a few weeks on one of the most significant trips that our family has ever taken. We ate well, followed the footsteps of history, and did things that we would never do at home. In our son’s case, that meant rappelling down a makhtesh that’s also the world’s largest erosion crater.”

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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