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 Ed Batista, Mary Jo Asmus, Marcella Bremer, Lolly Daskal, and Nina Simosko.

From Ed Batista: Why I Read Fiction Again (And What I Read in 2015)

“I was a voracious reader as a kid. I knew how to read before I ever went to school, thanks to my parents and the first few seasons of Sesame Street, and the habit stuck with me for decades. And then…I stopped. More accurately, I didn’t stop reading–I read as much as I ever did–but I stopped reading fiction. I read the odd novel once in a while, or a story in The New Yorker, but most of my reading was ‘professional’ in nature, focused on topics intended to help me be a better coach, a better teacher.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: Your 2016 relationship goals

“When I consider the relationships I have with those around me, I find that they are all in a different place. Some are strained or more distant than I’d like. Others need gentle nourishing and still others are exactly as they should be.”

From Marcella Bremer: How will you feel this year?

“Welcome to (hopefully) the next 365 days with the gift of life. Happy New Year! How will you make your difference this year? But, even more importantly, how will you feel?”

From Lolly Daskal: 52 Leadership Promises for Every Week of the Year

“A new year means a new beginning, and here’s a promise a week for 2016.”

From Nina Simosko: 2016 – The Year of Conscious Innovation

“Often when we think of innovation, we call to mind those projects that fly below the radar within the enterprise, only to surface at some point to loud applause, fully formed and functioning. These are the make or break innovations that change companies or industries. In the 20th Century, these innovations were kept well away from the core business as they could not be easily accommodated within the functions, structures and business models of the enterprise – and would only be brought into full view of the world when the conditions were right.”

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 2016 Best Companies for Leaders, an insider’s guide to the transformation of health care, how 2015 changed corporate innovation, how women fared in 2015 (by the numbers), and the no-office workplace.

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.