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 LaRae Quy, Art Petty, Scott Eblin, Kate Nasser, and Ed Batista.

From LaRae Quy: Do You Know How To Boost Your Willpower?

“In the American Psychological Association’s annual survey on stress, people cited a lack of willpower as the number one barrier to following through with changes that would improve their lives. What they’re really saying is that they don’t have the self-control to make those changes, because if they did, they’d know that willpower is something over which they have total control.”

From Art Petty: Asking the “Six Whats” Will Help You Strengthen Workplace Problem Solving

“Too often, we react to symptoms or throw solutions at poorly defined problems. The failure to get to the root cause and underlying assumptions behind something that seems to be a problem results in half-measures and new, resultant problems. Consider this Hall-of-Fame list of cures that were targeted squarely at symptoms:”

From Scott Eblin: Don’t Be Paralyzed by Positive Thinking

“I’m observing (virtually, of course) more and more leaders who are short-termers. By that, I don’t mean that they’re not long for their jobs. What I mean is that they’re not looking far enough out into the future.”

From Kate Nasser: Tough Leadership Moments: Are You Really Ready for These?

“When you think of becoming a leader, are you really ready for tough leadership moments? Some people are propelled into a leadership role without even thinking they want it. Others step forward during tough moments and show their leadership ability. Yet, in both cases, they may not be ready for most of the tough leadership moments they will face.”

From Ed Batista: The Strategic Importance of Empathy

“I’m reminded of a great line from the eminent French film director Jean Renoir: ‘The hell of life is that everyone has their reasons.’ It’s important to remind ourselves of this when we’re met with somebody whose behavior we find frustrating or maddening or confusing. We often leap to some assumptions about them: We assume that they lack understanding. We assume that they’re acting out of spite or capriciousness. We make a whole host of assumptions which often justify our own perspective and are typically very unempathetic.”

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. 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.

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