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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 assessing leadership potential, cultivating talent, cultures of failure, how compensation is changing, and saying "Thank you."

From Great Leadership: Gambling on Leadership Potential
"Why is it so hard to predict the success of leaders before we hire or promote them to the next level? We hear about the failure rate of new CEOs and senior leaders all the time, and hear from the “experts” how shortsighted and ignorant we are for not being able to get it right. OK, now I’m one of those idiots responsible for identifying the next generation of leaders, so excuse me if I get a little defensive here. The reason our success rate is barely better than 50%, maybe worse depending on what study you’ve read, it that IT IS DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO PREDICT THE FUTURE!"

Wally's Comment: "Predictions are hard, especially about the future." I've heard that quote attributed to people as different as Yogi Berra and Niels Bohr. Making predictions about people is even harder. Both Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower finished near the bottom of their classes at West Point. Abraham Lincoln failed at pretty much everything for most of the first part of his life. Now add the voice of Dan McCarthy who invokes the NFL draft and other examples to make his point (see above).

From Mary Jo Asmus: Cultivating Talent
"My husband Ken and the best leaders have a lot in common. At first glance, one wouldn’t think so. He is a nurseryman, and close to the earth. A somewhat unusual leader, perhaps. He has owned and operated Oikos Tree Crops, a specialty plant nursery for almost thirty years. It took several years from the purchase of the property his nursery was to be built on, to the selling of his first trees. My husband is a patient man and one that organizational and business leaders can learn from."

Wally's Comment: Mary Jo Asmus comes at the issue of personal and leadership development from another direction. She uses the example of her husband, Ken's, work as a nurseryman to suggest that cultivation might be more productive than prediction when it comes to growing leaders.

From Incentive Intelligence: A Culture of Failure?
"One of things that never fails to amuse me is managers who look at managing as an exercise in training employees to "do the things right" versus "doing the right things." What is amusing to me is that the "doing things right" isn't a static function.  However, doing the "right things" almost always is constant.  Processes and procedures change (and today they change at an increasing rate) - mission/values/goals - not so much."

Wally's Comment: The idea of cultivation assumes that there is potential to be nurtured. The idea of boss-as-resident-expert-in-everything is quite the opposite. Paul Hebert points out that very little growth and development happens without mistakes.

From Compensation Force: The Changing Game, and a Door That Swings Both Ways
"So, the game is changing.  The recession has ushered in a host of changes to the employment relationship, many of which we are just beginning to grasp. On the reward front, as I mentioned last week, many employers are using the economic crisis as an impetus for hitting the reset button on their compensation programs.  The experts predicted it, and I am watching it happen from my own ringside seat.  The biggest outcome of that reset button being hit: A shift in reward emphasis from fixed base salaries to variable (incentive) pay."

Wally's Comment: Ann Bares gives us a quick and insightful review of the way the recession has sparked changes in compensation practice. She also points out that many employers seem to think they can have the benefits of switching more compensation to incentive-based without giving up anything or making any other changes. Don't bet on it.

From Random Acts of Leadership: Make Your "Thank You's" Count
"Thank you for all you do. Thank you for all of your hard work throughout the year.  Thank you for…"

Wally's Comment: "Thank you" is one of the magical phrases of the English language. Susan Mazza suggests some ways you can make those "thank-you's" even more magical.

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.