From the Independent Business Blogs: 4/3/19

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

From Mary Jo Asmus: When you want to know what others think

“You’re disappointed. Like many leaders, until today you believed your team members have told you everything you need to know. The truth is that in our hierarchical organizations your employees will not speak their minds completely – ever. Leaders who are in a position of managerial power must work particularly hard at getting to the bottom of things.”

From Terry “Starbucker” St. Marie: How To Avoid A Big and Demoralizing Leadership Fail (Unless You Are A Vulcan)

“These are classic signs of a (very) big leadership fail I call ‘Leadership by Osmosis.’ That is, the expectation that a leader’s knowledge can simply be transferred to others without the benefit of much verbal and written communication – kind of like Mr. Spock doing a bunch of Vulcan mind melds.”

From Ken Downer: Following the Follower: 15 Ways to Lead Better by Following Better

“Focusing on following may seem an odd way to tackle the challenges of leading, but there’s a power in this approach we can easily overlook. There’s a danger in ignoring it, too. That was a lesson I learned the hard way deep in the dry, burning pine forests of western Wyoming one sweltering summer.”

From Kate Nasser: Make Assertiveness Easy: It’s Not as Tough as You Think

“You can make assertiveness easy. It’s not as tough as you think. What stops many people from being assertive is overthinking it. Assertiveness is basically the desire and courage to speak, listen, and act clearly. It is good communication linked with action. Assertiveness is not aggressive bravado that overpowers others. It is not selfish. Here’s how to do it.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: What Can You Control?

“Control is something we all want, and most leaders think a lot about control. Many of the big leadership questions revolve around control and who has it. Does control come from position? Are leaders exerting more control by micromanaging? And what about control and employee engagement? How you answer those questions, and a hundred others, must start with understanding what is in your control.”

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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