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 Dan Rockwell, Steve Keating, Suzi McAlpine, Jesse Lyn Stoner, and Julie Winkle Giulioni.

From Dan Rockwell: Everyone Has More Weaknesses Than Strengths

“Everyone has more weaknesses than strengths. Ignoring this truth makes leaders blind, confused, dangerous, and ineffective.”

From Steve Keating: Invest in Trust

“All leadership is based on trust. If someone doesn’t trust you they simply will not be committed to truly following you. They might comply with you, they may do what you tell them to do, they may even kind of like you but they will not commit to you.”

From Suzi McAlpine: Come On In, The Water’s Warm – Why Dipping Your Toe In Before You Commit Can Save You A World Of Pain…

“These examples show us, rather embarrassingly, that we’re not as flash at predicting the future as we’d like to think we are. Despite this fact*, when it comes to making decisions as a leader, there’s huge pressure to be all crystal ball gaze-y, to leap in head first, to be ‘all in’ or ‘all out’. We’re constantly and relentlessly urged to commit UP FRONT AND IN FULL. There’s an alternative to this line of attack that’s not used nearly as often as it should be.”

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: Wax on or off the seesaw

“When the moon grows, it waxes. When it declines, it wanes. Waxing is a good thing. We use it in expressions like, ‘He waxed eloquently’ or ‘She waxed lyrical.’ But what about someone who ‘waxes on and on’ – not so good.”

From Julie Winkle Giulioni: What’s your Story? Leadership and Storytelling

“Storytelling — once the stuff of childhood nighttime rituals — has grown up and is quickly becoming a go-to tool in the very adult world of business. MBA programs, workshops, and coaches all offer strategies and support to help today’s leaders craft a better story.”

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 virtues of unintelligent organization design, The continuous improvement leader: engaging people for a digital age, how IoT is transforming unexpected industries, why the next big technology could be nanomaterials, and apprenticeships.

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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