Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog

The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training.

Follow me on Twitter

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check Wally's Three Star Leadership Letter

Find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.

Find out more about Wally's coaching services.

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 learning about leadership from a symphony conductor, employee engagement, rewards, principles and approaches, and successful CEO studies.

From Michael Hyatt: 8 Things Leaders Can Learn from Symphony Conductors
"We are privileged to have seats on the second row. I was less than 20 feet from Hugh Wolff. I was fascinated just watching him lead the orchestra. Toward the end of the evening, it occurred to me that conducting and leading have a lot in common"

Wally's Comment: Since Warren Bennis first used a symphony conductor as a leadership model, many people have talked about the lessons to be learned from watching them. I can't think of anyone who's done it better than Michael Hyatt in this post.

From Ben Baran at Foster Excellence: Yeah Man, That’s The Good Stuff: Defining the Slippery Nature of Employee Engagement
"In one specific way, employee engagement is a lot like love: It’s tough—very tough—to define. And maybe nailing down a definition of employee engagement is a losing battle. Maybe it’s just “the good stuff” that managers everywhere want from their employees, that which keeps them satisfied, productive, and likely to stick around."

Wally's Comment: Ben Baran tackles the difficulties in coming up with a definition of "engagement" that everyone can agree on, including those who promote their own "branded" version.

From Compensation Force: Rewards Metrics: Engagement versus the Bottom Line
"According to a new study, the Reward Next Practices Survey conducted by Hay Group and WorldatWork, companies attempting to measure reward program success plan to increase their focus on employee engagement as a key metric."

Wally's Comment: Ann Bares discusses employee engagement as a measure of performance or as the basis for incentives. This is even tougher because as Ben Baran pointed out, we don't have a good working definition, let alone an agreed-upon measurement.

From Leading Blog: Confusing Principles and Approaches
"The failure of the exemplary companies to maintain their hold on greatness or excellence does however hold an important lesson for us. It’s all too easy to move away from our core values. They are always under fire and it takes courage to hold the course. Everything we do has to be continually reviewed and realigned to our core values."

Wally's Comment: Michael McKinney offers a stellar post about how to make sense of those studies of corporate success.

From Great Leadership: A Ban on What Makes CEOs Successful Studies
"I hereby announce a ban on “What makes CEOs successful” studies. Or at least the silly, misleading stories that report on the studies. Or the ones that I don’t like. It seems there’s been a bunch of these recently, and I admit, I’m a sucker for them. I read ‘em all, and pass the interesting ones along to my readers. This one, published as an Op-Ed in the May 18 New York Times, and picked up in today’s SmartBrief on Leadership, just put me over the edge. It’s not so much the study and findings… it’s the way journalists interpret and report the results. And I admit, I’m guilty of doing the same thing. It’s a way to attract attention and be provocative. The problem is, it’s misleading, confusing to aspiring leaders, and irresponsible."

Wally's Comment: Dan McCarthy hits yet another nail squarely on the head. There are lots of "studies" reported in the media that are simply junk statistics. And the media, including bloggers like Dan and me, often apply major filters before we report on them. And yes, sometimes we sacrifice the accuracy of a headline for a few more readers. Dan says he's done with all that. I'm not sure that I agree, but I certainly will think about it after reading this post.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.