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 Scott Eblin, Todd Ordal, Art Petty, Steve Keating, and Tanveer Naseer.

From Scott Eblin: Set Yourself Apart by Getting Ahead of the Communications Curve

“What my clients who generate that kind of good will and more effective collaboration are doing is so simple that I’m surprised way more people don’t do it. They get ahead of the communications curve by practicing empathy. And by empathy, I don’t mean that they’re tuning into how their colleagues feel (although that’s important). Rather, they’re asking themselves the question, ‘If I was in that person’s role, what would I want or need to know and when would I want to know it?’ Then they act on their answer to the question.”

From Todd Ordal: Effective Leadership: Avoiding Tough Issues Increases Stress

“The tough, but necessary, conversations that leaders avoid are no different from those that families avoid. They’re hard. They might cause hurt feelings. And they’ll no more go away than that unpaid bill.”

From Art Petty: Get Better Daily

“Developing as a leader doesn’t follow a straight line. It’s different for every individual. Focus on getting better at this job daily. Here are five ideas to help you jump-start this good work.”

From Steve Keating: Keeping Score

“Professional sales people who don’t know their percentage of wins vs opportunities have no way of truly knowing if their approaches are effective. Companies who don’t track their market share have no idea if they are gaining or losing customers. Retailers who do not track the amount of customers entering their establishments have no clue if their marketing and advertising is working.”

From Tanveer Naseer: A Guide To Being A Better Business Leader In 2021

“Are you looking to become a better leader this year? Now, more than ever, businesses need effective leaders at the helm that can steady the ship, create a positive atmosphere and take the company forward. Now is also a challenging time to be a business leader because so much has changed as a result of COVID-19, so even experienced managers are finding themselves struggling with new challenges to face. With this in mind, read on for a few helpful leadership tips for 2021 that will hopefully help you to improve your performance and take the company to new heights.”

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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