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 Karin Hurt, Art Petty, Jesse Lyn Stoner, Lolly Daskal, and Mary Jo Asmus.

From Karin Hurt: 5 Reasons You’re Avoiding Your “I Don’t Wanna” List (and what to do about it)

“In my experience there are five big reasons something ends up on our ‘I Don’t Wanna List.'”

From Art Petty: How to Save $1,500 on Leadership Books

“I know there are good leaders out there. People tell me about them all of the time. The people doing the telling are students in my courses, attendees at my keynotes and participants in my workshops. All of them are able to enthusiastically describe one or more great leaders in their professional lives. The formula these good leaders use is simple. They…”

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: 5 Questions to Surface Your Leadership Beliefs

“Here are five questions to help surface some important leadership beliefs and to consider how well your actions reflect them.”

From Lolly Daskal: Why The Empathetic Leader Is the Best Leader

“At the core leadership is ultimately about others. It means inspiring them to take actions beyond their capabilities, leading them in a direction that is compelling and inspiring. And empathy is the foundation of those actions.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: Be honest and caring when giving feedback

“Good feedback requires you to be clear, direct, and empathetic. It comes from the heart, and it shows that you care about the person you’re giving it to.”

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 management practices that boost company performance, how business processes are learning to hack themselves, the management thinker we should never have forgotten, why re-entrance programs aren’t working, and AI is more like a really smart four-year-old than a really seasoned manager.

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.

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.