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 Ken Downer, Anne Perschel, Steve Keating, Kevin Eikenberry, and Ed Batista.

From Ken Downer: Bad vs. Good: Why Does the Bad Seem to Outweigh the Good?

“The bad news? The ‘bad’ is far more powerful than the ‘good.’ The good news? As leaders, we can use the power of bad for good.”

From Anne Perschel: Role Models – good, bad, or ugly?

“Role models were the topic of a two radio interviews I heard recently. Teresa Marie Mailhot, New York Times best selling author, made a strong case against having role models. A recovering drug addict said they were key to his recovery. My conclusion? Role models are helpful, but read the warning label.”

From Steve Keating: Trust Goes Both Ways

“The tour somehow felt a little weird from the start but I couldn’t figure out why. As the tour continued it dawned on me that none of the offices or conference rooms had doors. There were door frames and you could see that at one time there were doors but they had all been removed.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Three Keys to Successful Delegation

“In this article, I will break down the three key pieces of delegation, the foundations upon which your delegation practices must be built.”

From Ed Batista: Bosses and Birthdays (The Importance of Small Talk)

“When a leader engages an employee in meaningful small talk that involves the appropriate level of detail–neither too generic nor too personal–the meta-message being delivered is: I see you. You matter to me. And this relationship matters to me. In short, let’s trust each other.”

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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