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 Skip Prichard, Mary Jo Asmus, Terry “Starbucker” St. Marie, Kevin Eikenberry, and Lolly Daskal.

From Skip Prichard: 1 Japanese Business Skill We Should All Master

“Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Japan. My experience with Japanese business leaders has always been positive. I appreciate the unique culture. On this trip, I was once again struck by the Japanese hospitality, by their respect, deference, and kindness.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: When you listen more

“Leaders can always listen more, and the quest to do so often becomes a goal for many of the leaders I work with, because feedback from their stakeholders has indicated this is needed. That’s a good reason to work on better listening, but there is another one that is important to you that you may not have considered:”

From Terry “Starbucker” St. Marie: Why Leaders Must Practice Full Spectrum Management (and Avoid The Comfortable Middle)

“As I enter my 31st (!) year as a business leader, there are just a handful of leadership lessons come back to the forefront for me, time after time (after time). This one always bubbles back up to the top of the list. Leaders HAVE to stay out of the Comfortable Middle, and practice Full Spectrum Management, to have any real chance to reach for greatness.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: The Three Goals of Feedback

“Much has been written about giving feedback effectively, and I have written a good bit myself (including here, here, and here). If you apply those ideas you will become more successful, yet all that advice misses the mark or is hard to implement until you understand the underlying goals of feedback.”

From Lolly Daskal: The Power of Feedback: How To Make Feedback Constructive

“Criticism is rarely easy for anyone to hear, but the manner in which it’s provided can make a huge difference in how feedback is received and how useful it can be in helping the recipient grow.”

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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