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 on advice for a new manager, Wizard of OZ syndrome, the most dangerous way to measure success, a short course in communication, and a “leadership short story.”

From Les Hayman: What Can One Say To A New Manager In Just One Hour

“I was recently asked by an exciting and highly successful young salesman, who had just been promoted to his first management role, to give him some ‘fatherly’ advice on what I felt he should focus on to get started with his team. I would have preferred to have at least a year to prepare him for the management role, but we had only one hour together to chat about this vast topic, so it made me not only need to think about being concise, but also made me think about needing to drill down to the key elements of management that would really matter to a ‘newbie’ and that, in his first 100 days as a manager, would define him to his people as their leader rather than as a peer.”

From Scott Eblin: Seven Ways to Keep Wizard of Oz Syndrome from Killing Your Organization

“Every so often I come in contact with an organization where everyone is on pins and needles. They’re afraid of their own shadows. Everything is on an urgent deadline. The smallest mistakes or surprises are crises. Any sense of humor remaining is solely of the gallows variety.”

From Karin Hurt: The Most Dangerous Way to Measure Success

“Only you know if you’re accomplishing who you set out to be. Stop looking around at slivery glimpses of other people’s lives and judging yourself. Trust me, you don’t know the whole story. We never can. Define success on your own terms and stick to it. Oh, there’s big inspiration in success and possibility, but be sure it resonates with your life strategy.”

From Lolly Daskal: The Shortest Possible Course in Communication

“Everyone is busy and pressed for time, but we all want to make an impact—so here is the shortest course in communication I can give you.”

From Terry “Starbucker” St. Marie: Paradise By The Green Dashboard Light – A Leadership Short Story

“Of the 8 core principles of More Human leadership, it’s #6 – Measuring, monitoring and managing with the right metrics – that presents the biggest ‘nuts and bolts’ challenge to any leader. After all, after you’ve spent so much time and effort to set up the right values and build a great culture of accountability that should lead to greatness, how do you know you’re getting there – or better still, how can you show your team you’re getting there? The answer, as this leadership short story shows, is to think green. Lead well!”

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 the power of modesty in management, the future of manufacturing, organizing for innovation, Indra Nooyi on why women can’t have it all, and the holes in holacracy.

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.