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 Todd Ordal, Ed Batista, Scott Eblin, Karin Hurt, and Kate Nasser

From Todd Ordal: The Problem With Intuitive Leaders

“Intuitive people have a different challenge. Before we get there, however, let’s assume our subject today is truly intuitive. They can make decisions that are right at a significantly higher rate than a coin toss. I’ve met folks who believe they’re intuitive but are really just capricious. Randomness isn’t the same as intuitive.”

From Ed Batista: Newbie Goggles

“But when we’re in a new role, in a new environment–even one that we’ve opted into because we believe it to be compatible with our needs and values–we are the proverbial fish out of water. Because we haven’t fully internalized the surrounding culture, we don’t yet take it for granted. Because we’re wearing newbie goggles, we can suddenly see it in ways that the current members cannot.”

From Scott Eblin: What’s Your Return on Effort?

“If your ambitions are big enough, you’re eventually going to reach the limit of the effort you can deploy to attain them. Much like the dilemma of determining when something needs to be perfect and when good enough is good enough, acknowledging that there is only so much effort to go around can be really difficult for high-achieving leaders and their teams. It can feel like giving up to put something that feels important on the back burner or maybe decide to not do it at all. Unless you can add more resources, you have to make a call.In moments like that, it can be very helpful to consider your return on effort.”

From Karin Hurt: Mentoring Conversations: How to Be Remarkably Helpful with Limited Time

“In an ideal world, you’d have time on your calendar each week for sustained mentoring relationships. And you’d have a mentor yourself. But those relationships take time—time you probably don’t have right now. But what if you could still make a meaningful contribution one focused mentoring conversation at a time?”

From Kate Nasser: Overwhelmed Leaders: Stop Insecurity From Impairing Your Leadership

“When overwhelmed leaders face resistance from those they lead, they sometimes dig in their heals and make leadership mistakes. Now some people claim that if leaders are ever overwhelmed, they aren’t fit to lead. Well, if that were true (which it isn’t), then it would mean that leaders can never grow and become great.

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. And, at my blog for part-time business book authors, I share tools and insights to help you write and publish a book you’ll be proud of.

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