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 Judy Sims, Scott Eblin, Suzi McAlpine, Kate Nasser, and Ed Batista.

From Judy Sims: How to Gain Control When Everything’s Out of Control

“Yup, this sucks. COVID-19 is highly dangerous, highly contagious and spreading exponentially across the globe. The stock market has plummeted. Plans are delayed. Events are cancelled, travel is over and most of us are working from home while trying to entertain bored children. The world is rife with complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. And no one knows when it will end. It seems none of us are in control of our lives at the moment. So the way I see it, we have two choices:”

From Scott Eblin: My Crisis Leadership Playbook

“And that brings me to a new way that I’m thinking about leadership in these early days of the pandemic. As the accompanying picture illustrates, it’s about the way great leadership radiates across concentric circles.”

From Suzi McAlpine: Why you should re-read the ‘Circle of Influence/Circle of Concern’ Model right now….

“I bet when Stephen Covey came up with the Circle of Influence/Circle of Control model in his bestselling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he didn’t imagine that it would also be incredibly relevant to a world facing COVID-19. But it is. And it’s a useful model to revisit right now – not just for leaders, but for everyone, everywhere.”

From Kate Nasser: Leadership Insight: How to Spot Fear

“How is your leadership insight into the fear factor during this health crisis? Do you know how you show your fear? Can you spot fear in those you lead? Fear doesn’t always cry or cower. Consider the different ways people show fear.”

From Ed Batista: How Leaders Overcome Adversity

“A crucible is a vessel used in chemistry and metallurgy in which substances are transformed through the application of extreme heat and pressure. We can think of the current global crisis as a ‘crucible experience’–a chapter in our lives that will undoubtedly transform us, for better or for worse. In ‘Crucibles of Leadership’ Warren Bennis and his co-author Robert Thomas employ this metaphor as they explore the lives of leaders who went through such an experience, ‘a trial and a test, a point of deep self-reflection that forced them to question who they were and what mattered to them.’ [2] Studying a number of leaders who overcame adversity in such circumstances allowed Bennis and Thomas to identify the four (five, really) characteristics identified above that these leaders shared.”

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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