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, Jesse Lyn Stoner, Art Petty, Steve Keating, and Kevin Eikenberry.

From Ken Downer: Leading Experienced People: How to Overcome 3 Dilemmas That Make it Hard

“Leading experienced people presents dilemmas that can be hard to overcome, but by doing the unexpected, we can find ways to forge a strong, productive team. Here’s how.”

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: The Trust Feedback Loop

“Successful leaders tap into a trust feedback loop that serves as a self-reinforcing source of strength, positive self-regard, and regard for others that increases your own and your team’s performance. The trust feedback loop is a positive feedback loop that diminishes your self-imposed limitations so that your vision for yourself and for your team expands geometrically.”

From Art Petty: Art of Managing—The Never Ending Fight for Your Firm’s Future

“I’ve been in fast moving environments as a senior manager, and frankly, I understand how easy it is to be drawn into the swirl of operational issues and the urgent-important and lose sight of the future. The next board meeting, the quarter close, the upcoming industry event—all of these and more keep our eyes squarely focused on running the business. It takes extraordinary energy to break the grip of this moment in time and invest in designing your firm’s future. Here are some approaches I’ve observed management teams use to avoid the doom-loop of short-term focus and work on setting the business up for future success.”

From Steve Keating: Do You Know the “Needs” of Your Business?

“I used to work for a guy who when it came time to allocate resources would always ask the same question… is that a “need to do” or a “nice to do?””

From Kevin Eikenberry: Three Reasons Why Small Things Make a Big Difference

“You’ve heard, and probably said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” While there is some truth in that statement, the sentiment can be very harmful if we don’t consider small things in the right context. Let me start by telling you a story…”

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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