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 Kate Nasser, Lolly Daskal, Karin Hurt, Ken Downer, and Mary Jo Asmus.

From Kate Nasser: A Critical People Skills Moment to Handle With Ease

“Professional relationships take time to develop and along the way they go through a few ups and downs. There is one critical people skills moment to handle with ease right from the start. When you do it at the outset with co-workers & customers, it minimizes the ups and downs.”

From Lolly Daskal: The One Quality That Will Make You Into A Great Leader

“Some base it on results, profit or success, but after working with top performers and leaders around the world I’ve found that there is one aspect, one trait that makes all the difference in the world.”

From Karin Hurt: How Do I Find a Great Mentor?

“I can’t tell you how many times someone has asked me to be their mentor, and when I asked what they were looking to accomplish–I was met with a blank stare. I guess they were just looking for me to start espousing wisdom to help get their career to the next level.”

From Ken Downer: How to be Decisive: 9 Ways to Make a Decision You Won’t Regret

“Indecision bogs us down and costs us time, momentum, and opportunity. To break the stalemate, here are nine ways to help you make that decision with confidence.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: Stretching past your fear

“In the end, if pressed, many good leaders will admit to being fearful of one or more of the following. Which of these resonate with you?”

That’s it for this week’s selections from independent business blogs. If you liked this piece you may enjoy my regular post on “Leadership Reading to Start Your Week” points you to choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms about strategy, innovation, women and the workplace, and work now and in the future. Highlights from the last issue include why strategic change is all in the timing, how to make your company more innovative, Amazon as a conglomerate, the rise of machines and the evolution of industrial work, is big data doing more harm than good, why men call forceful women ‘hysterical’ and try to silence them, what women leaders have in common, and how to thrive in an automated workplace.

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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