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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 team building, pay differences between genders, women who bully, trust in the workplace, and humble leadership.

From All Things Workplace: Ooh, It's Time To Re-visit Team Building
"OK, it's clear: based on the comments from We Need Team Spirit (So I've Set Aside Thursday), we've all had some strange experiences with team building. (Some stranger than others). Organizational success depends on people working together to get "it" done. So the whole working together thing is--well, huge. In an era where we deify leaders, none of them can get anywhere without everyone else. If you're one of those people "in charge" of something, here's a tip: Every team meeting is team building"

Wally's Comment: I have a bias about "team building." I think most team building exercises are a waste of time and money. The further they are from home, the more expensive they are and the more exercises and "learning experiences" there are, the more they are likely to be good only for the person putting on the training. Steve Roesler notes that the way teams get built is by working together. Yeah, Steve!

From Compensation Force: Time to Reframe the Gender Pay Gap Conversation?
"Is all the focus on the gender pay gap missing the point? Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO of 20-First and author of the soon-to-be-published book How Women Mean Business says yes in her recent post at the Harvard Business Review Blog 'The Conversation.'"

Wally's Comment: Ann Bares always has insight into the ways that the world and business and compensation come together. In this post she notes that it may be time to quit talking about meritocracies and start doing. For extra credit, you can click over and read Dr. Anne Perschel's post on how businesses can be agents of this change.

From Dorothy Dalton: Bitch or Bully: The Pink Elephant "When does bitchiness, strong or bad management cross the line into workplace bullying? "

Wally's Comment: Dorothy Dalton tackles one of those subjects we don't discuss much, bosses who are women and bullies.

From The Trusted Advisor: Interview with David Maister
"David was lead author on The Trusted Advisor  along with myself and Rob Galford. A former Harvard Business School professor, he originally specialized in logistics and transportation (writing 8 books on those topics.) He became the guru of Professional Services with his 1993 book Managing the Professional Services Firm after which he wrote 6 additional books on professional service firm topics."

Wally's Comment: It was a sad, sad day for me when David Maister suspended his blog. The good news is that we still have his books and interviews. This one is especially good because Charles Green was a co-author with Maister on the excellent book, The Trusted Advisor . This is an absolute must-read if you are in professional services and highly recommended for everyone else.

From Great Leadership: Going Humble with the Amish  
"I recently gave the teenage son of an Amish friend a lift. Amish don’t drive of course, but generally have no problem accepting rides. We had a big day planned: first stop was a carriage shop in the heart of the Lancaster County settlement, where “Elam” as we’ll call him, would order a new buggy. A younger brother was turning 16, which meant he’d inherit Elam’s vehicle, clearing the way for Elam to get a new one (the tab for a new buggy, in case you were wondering? Around $7-8000 or more, depending on the features—and there are more than you might think)."

Wally's Comment: There's an awful lot of foolishness written about humble leadership. Many of the writers seem like cousins of Uriah Heep from Dickens' David Copperfield, who was constantly telling young Mr. Copperfield that the was the "most humble" person in the world. Humility is a way of living and relating to work, to other people and to your own limitations. Read this post for an idea of what that looks like in practice.

That's it for this week's selections from independent business blogs. If you liked this piece you may enjoy my regular post on "Leadership Reading to Start Your Week " which features five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms. The last issue had pointers to articles about innovation at 3M, the Toyota recall, the iPad, "walled gardens" make a comeback, and the organization as a living being.

And be sure to check out Weekly Leader  where I'll try to get you thinking about The Big Idea of the Week.

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.