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 Alli Polin, Steve Keating, Kevin Eikenberry, Lolly Daskal, and Tanveer Naseer.

From Alli Polin: What Should You Do if You Can’t Shake the Stress?

“It’s the end of summer Down Under, and our family recently went on our first holiday in a year. We traveled from our small community to a state where they had not had a single case of COVID in the community for ten months. We ventured out to go shopping and to restaurants with a relative sense of security laced with a strong undercurrent of surrealism. Unfortunately, I forgot to leave my stress at home, and it took up a lot of space in our lives. Our week in the sun ended up a bit overcast as a result.”

From Steve Keating: They Who Hesitate….Seldom Lead

“There are not many areas of life where hesitation pays dividends. That’s true in leadership as well. One of the five most common characteristics of weak leaders is that they hesitate. They wait for everything to be lined up perfectly before they are willing to pull the trigger. Many times they wait so long that they don’t pull the trigger at all.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Lessons from Learning a New Hobby

“As we continue to spend most of our time at home, many have rediscovered a hobby or started a new one. This will likely explain future yard sales consisting entirely of jigsaw puzzles. During the past year, I decided to try something, and it has become my new hobby. I’m going to tell you about my new hobby, but this article isn’t really about that. It is about learning from your hobbies, whether they are new or not.”

From Lolly Daskal: How to Gain Credibility with your Employees

“Do you ever wonder what makes a leader credible? Credibility isn’t something you’re born with but a trait that’s built through hard work and long-term effort. A leader needs credibility to achieve the level of respect and loyalty they need to be effective. To make sure you’re on track to reach that goal, consider the following points”

From Tanveer Naseer: How Data Analytics Can Make You A Better Leader

“Business leaders who want to make smart, informed decisions will usually turn to data analytics. Using data analytics, they can collect, analyze and understand large data sets to improve customer retention, assess and mitigate risk, improve operational efficiency and so much more. To make the most of the opportunities data analytics provide for businesses, organizations need leaders who can navigate the vast amounts of data at their disposal and use it to make informed decisions. Many business schools are also incorporating data analytics into their business programs. We are going to look at how acquiring data analytics skills can make you a better business leader.”

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. 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.

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