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 Julie Winkle Giulioni, Ken Downer, Mary Jo Asmus, Lolly Daskal, and Kevin Eikenberry.

From Julie Winkle Giulioni: Persist or Pivot? 8 Questions to Determine How to Move Your Plan Forward

“Yet, this key activity that ensures alignment, appropriate resource allocation, risk mitigation and organizational support is fraught with challenges. Field research over the past two years highlights the most persistent planning problems facing leaders.”

From Ken Downer: Getting Them to Listen: How To Get People to Hear What You Are Saying

“If you’re trying to lead people, one of the first challenges you face might be just getting them to listen. This can be doubly challenging if you happen to be newer to the team or younger than the others.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: What people want from you

“You sit at your desk, confused about the anonymous critical feedback you received through a poll, a 360 or other such survey instrument. You feel misunderstood and frankly – you are starting to be angry. After all, if it weren’t for you the leader, they wouldn’t have jobs or a paycheck.”

From Lolly Daskal: 7 Important Questions to Ask People You Admire

“What if you suddenly found yourself sharing an elevator or seated at an event with somebody you admire, someone like, Warren Buffett, Elon Musk or Bill Gates? Would you stammer an introduction and look awkwardly at your feet, or would you be able to make the most of the encounter with a set of smart, concise questions?”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Getting Beyond Small Talk

“The work and the weather. If the communications at work center only on those areas, trust will be stunted, learning will be minimal and strong relationships will be few and far between. If you want to have meaningful conversations to promote stronger working relationships, build a culture of learning, and see trust skyrocket, you need to master some ideas that you might not of thought of.”

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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