From the Independent Business Blogs: 3/13/19

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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 Terry “Starbucker” St. Marie, Mary Jo Asmus, Ken Downer, Karin Hurt, and Kevin Eikenberry.

From Terry “Starbucker” St. Marie: Controlling the Flow: Why Today’s Leaders Have To Be Plumbers Too

“There’s a role a leader must play that in this day and age is even more important than being a teacher or mentor. It’s the role of a plumber.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: Why you need to get personal at work

“Certainly, there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed when you are developing relationships with others at work. Your ability to remain professional and not cross those lines is important to your integrity as a leader. It’s good to be clear that you aren’t everyone’s best friend, and that you don’t go beyond friendships into inappropriate relationships.”

From Ken Downer: The Eraser Test: How to Know When It’s Time for a Change

“A casual remark by a friend last week got me thinking about the idea of flexibility and change. As leaders, we choose the objectives and set the course. But once we’re underway, how do we know if we should keep on keeping on, or if we need to change direction? The Eraser test.”

From Karin Hurt: The Most Important Question to Ask About a Leader

“Talent is tricky. Despite your best intentions, competency models, nine-box grids, and calibrated performance sessions, sometimes the wrong guy ends up in the wrong seat for the wrong reason — and wreaks havoc on your organization. The more vetted the choice, the trickier it is to question the impact. Add a spike in KPIs, and it’s even more tempting to look the other way.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Three Keys to Influencing Your Team More Effectively

“As a leader, you are in the influence business. People are watching what you do, when you do it, and how you do it. They are listening to what you say, how you say it and when you say it. And that is just part of how you are influencing your team. To be a more effective leader, you must hone your influence skills so that the influence you have leads people in the direction you intend.”

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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