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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 quality and quantity, reward and comfort, figuring out whether management is for you, development goals, and defining success.

From QAspire: Quality and Quantity – Compliance and Excellence
"Going by numbers is a great way to stay in control (or at least feel that way). Numbers are exciting. But when you choose to go by numbers alone, the tradeoff can be huge. Numbers should map with a purpose, else they can mislead. "

Wally's Comment: Tanmay Vora has some excellent things to say about the difference between quality and quantity and how they can affect our thinking. A second post continuing the conversation makes the insights richer, using comments on the first post and an HBR blog post titled "Why Good Spreadsheets make Bad Strategy."

From Execupundit: Reward and Comfort
"How many poor management practices are adopted because people just don't want the hassle that comes with being a good manager?"

Wally's Comment: Michael Wade writes one of the widest ranging and most consistently stimulating blogs on this or any other planet. In this post he points out that an awful lot of bad practice comes from wanting to avoid the hard-to-do right thing.

From Building Better Leaders: To Lead or Not to Lead? 7 Key Questions for Managers and Aspiring Leaders
"At some point in your career, either as an individual looking at your career path, or as a manager supporting the development of his/her team members, you will be faced with a decision on whether a leadership role is a good next step. Most first-time leaders end up in their roles more by mistake than design, through battlefield promotions where an opening showed up and someone deemed you appropriate to fill it.  Unfortunately, the statistics on the failure of first-time leaders are sobering."

Wally's Comment: Many times, the avoidance that Michael Wade laments in the post just above is the result of people winding up as bosses when they lack some basic qualities that give them the possibility of success. Art Petty is one of the few bloggers who visits this subject regularly. He suggests seven questions that people considering promotion to a boss's job and the people who may decide to promote them should ask and answer.

From Great Leadership: Top 12 Development Goals for Leaders
"I help a lot of leaders create individual development plans using some variation of this process. This time of year (January) is always especially busy. Although every leader I work with is unique, it seems like the development goals end up being somewhat common from year to year."

Wally's Comment: If you're already in a leadership position, you should re-visit your personal development plan at least once a year. When you do, Dan McCarthy has a list of twelve things you should evaluate as youput your Leadership Development Plan together.

From Your Voice of Encouragement: How Do You Define SUCCESS?
"When I was in high school, the senior class voted for individuals who were standouts in some area, such as "Most Popular" or "Most Athletic." I was voted "Most Likely to Succeed." And I have had many successes in my life."

Wally's Comment: The New Year is traditionally the time of resolutions. Far too often those resolutions get made without some quiet thought about what's important. Meredith Bell suggests that before you start drafting resolutions or development plans, you should spend some time deciding just how you define success.

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.