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 Linda Fisher Thornton, David Dye, Dan McCarthy, Kevin Eikenberry, and Art Petty,

From Linda Fisher Thornton: 19 Leadership Trend Reports for 2019

“One of the challenges of responsible leadership is staying on top of fast-moving trends. This week, I’m making that process a little easier for you by sharing 19 interesting leadership trend reports. Get ready to read about leadership trends including disruption, adaptation and reinvention. You may scan the list and read a few or read them all. Why will leaders need to reinvent themselves to succeed? Find out in the trend reports below.”

From David Dye: How to Lead in a Caustic Culture

“You can’t lead well when you feel like a victim. It saps your energy and your team will sense the lack of confidence. When you’re stuck wishing things we’re different, you can’t create positive change. I’ve been there—and it stinks. Your leader is in a bad mood and starts giving you directives you know aren’t healthy. If you pass that negativity and anger to your team, you’ll crush motivation and innovation. But they’re the boss, right? Not exactly.”

From Dan McCarthy: 10 Magic Phrases That Will Make You a Better Leader

“Want to be a better leader? Then try improving your vocabulary. No, I’m not talking adding the latest management and leadership buzzwords or jargon to your repertoire. I’m talking about adding some powerful phrases to your vocabulary that will engage, motivate and inspire others.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Communicating Unpopular Decisions

“I have six ideas to help you prepare for and deliver these potentially unpopular or negative messages.”

From Art Petty: Why Drucker’s “Managing Oneself” is Incredibly Relevant to Your Career

“Every year I read Peter Drucker’s classic article, ‘Managing Oneself’ as part of my personal-professional career navigation process. His powerful questions and frank commentary on what we need to do in our careers helps me reorient and reset on my priorities and activities. If you are a subscriber to HBR’s online library, read the article. If not, do yourself a big $9.99 favor that will pay dividends a thousand times over and buy a copy. The article is arguably more relevant in today’s world than when it was written in 2005—a testament to Drucker’s long-range view on people, management, and society”

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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