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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 the tension between righteousness and relationship, getting the most from 360 degree appraisals, making courageous choices, recurring crises, and managing Gen Y.

From Random Acts of Leadership: Who is Right?
"If you look closely at this picture you will see that 8 out of 26 letters are completely worn off.  I purchased this Gateway laptop in July of 2008.  I also purchased an extended warranty from Office Depot to cover hardware defects and malfunctions for 3 years."

Wally's Comment: Henry Clay said, "I'd rather be right than President." Many managers would rather be right than almost anything and that might be a bad thing.

From Great Leadership: 10 Ways to Get the Most from a 360 Degree Leadership Assessment
"A 360 degree leadership assessment is one of the most effective ways to get feedback from your employees, peers, and managers against a set of pre-defined leadership competencies. Having debriefed these for hundreds of managers, and taken a number of different 360s myself, I’ve discovered some best practices that have worked for me and others. Here are 10 tips for getting the most value from a 360 degree leadership assessment:"

Wally's Comment: Dan McCarthy knows a thing or two about 360 degree appraisals and in this post he shares some of the best things with you.

From Management Excellence: Develop the Courage to Derail the Bad Decision Train
"Once the bad decision train starts rolling, we often respond by adding more coal to the fire. This is particularly true for senior leaders that perceive that they have the most to lose if they admit that they were wrong."

Wally's Comment: When a bad idea gets up a head of steam, it can be hard to stop. Art Petty shares some thoughts about why you need to derail those bad ideas and suggests some tactics for getting the job done.

From 4th Gear: The Platform is on Fire…..Again
"I had never heard the term “burning platform” before.  Apparently it got used a lot in the company I was working with though.  The executive said that this new initiative was critical and so the team needed to create a “burning platform” to instill a sense of urgency in the business.  I found out later that the metaphor meant that if you needed a new platform built, the best way to make sure the work got done was to set the one you were standing on ablaze."

Wally's Comment: Randy Hall comments on one of the great energy and productivity sappers: the recurring crisis.

From the HR Capitalist: Do You Really Need to Manage the Different Generations Differently?
"I think the time to manage generations differently is in the recruiting process. Sell what you got, my friends. Once the talent is in the door, I think everyone wants to know what’s in it for them, and I also think every generation starts out their careers by wanting to fast-track. So I think you have to address that with the younger folks in your organization, but I’m not sure that’s much different than it was for the young Gen Xers I used to know."

Wally's Comment: Kris Dunn puts the "generational differences" argument into historical perspective.

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.