From the Independent Business Blogs: 8/6/14

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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 questions to answer to tell if you’re ready to lead, why performance reviews don’t work, giving space and light for others to grow, how to build a leadership credo, and how leadership begins at the end of your comfort zone.

From Beth Miller: Are You Ready to Lead? 7 Important Questions to Ask Yourself

“because most people leave managers not companies, AND with workplace talent being at such a premium globally, it is more important than ever to have the right people in leadership roles. Great leadership has been shown to be highly correlated to organizational success.”

From Les Hayman: Why Performance Reviews Don’t Work

“I was recently involved in sitting in with a Regional Head while he reviewed his direct reports, just so I could get an understanding of how he interacted with his people. As I had just embarked on an executive coaching programme with him (at the request of his CEO), I was keen to see how he would handle these quarterly sessions, as I have long been against the whole idea of formal performance reviews, no matter how regularly they are planned.”

From Mary Jo Asmus: Giving space and light for others to grow

“Last winter, we had an old apple tree in the yard topple from sub-zero freezing temperatures and the weight of more snow than we’ve seen since we’ve lived here. When we lost that tree, we gained a patch of sun that we hadn’t had before. Excitement ensued when we envisioned the possibility of having our first vegetable garden in many years.”

From Karin Hurt: How To Build a Leadership Credo

“Too many leaders run through their days without taking time to consider how and why they lead as they do. Days become months and months become years. Pressures, grooming, and politics all create counter-pressures to authenticity. Articulating what you value, helps you to stay true to what you believe. Every year, I take time out to work on my leadership credo. For the first time this week, I formalized the process and shared it with a group of leaders representing over 10 countries and a cross-section of industries.”

From Lolly Daskal: Leadership Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone

“The life of a modern leader brings challenges of leading, innovating, motivating, growing, developing, evaluating, communicating, and risking. And here’s a fact: You can’t do any of those things very well within your comfort zone. The end of your comfort zone is where your leadership begins.”

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 Robert Sutton’s guide to excellence, the tobacco industry, the future of crowdfunding, a study of women in business leadership, and the three eras of management.

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.

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