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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 where to look for real change, what to expect (and not expect) from your coach, behavioral economists, persistence, and leadership.

From QAspire: “Practitioner-Led” Approach For Real Improvements
"Real improvements are always “practitioner-led” – people who are most affected by an operational challenge are involved in defining the solution. It helps you bring out “solutions thinking” within your team. As a bonus, it also generates better buy-in when you implement the improved process. "

Wally's Comment: It's rare indeed that great new ideas are "pondered up" by a distant manager. Most good ideas come from front line workers and customers.

From the Next Level Blog: Three Things You Should and Shouldn’t Expect From Your Coach
"Since I’ve been coaching executive leaders for the past 10 years, the article got me thinking about what prospective clients should and shouldn’t expect from their coach.  Here are three things I would put on each of those lists:"

Wally's Comment: Coaching is all the rage. In fact, for some, it's the magic stone of the age. Scott Eblin writes in the interests of reasonable expectations and productive coaching engagements.

From Aubrey Daniels: Do Behavioral Economists really understand the behavior part?
"Someone just sent me a YouTube video of Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics, speaking to 1200 business leaders in London in 2007.  The YouTube video is titled, “Why Incentives Don’t Work.” Levitt said in response to a question that I could not hear, “In terms of carrot and stick, economists don’t have much to say.” The problem is that he didn’t stop there.  He went on to talk about how a company where his wife worked gave turkeys to employees (around Thanksgiving I suppose).  He related how the first year the turkeys were appreciated but by the third year they were complaining and quarrelling with management about them – they are smaller; can’t you give us something else; etc."

Wally's Comment: Generally speaking, I think the behavioral economists have brought some much-needed reality to the field of economics. But, let's face it, that wasn't really hard to accomplish. Economics, you'll recall said that human beings were totally rational, always sought their best economic good, and had perfect information.

But way too often it seems like the behavioral economists think that all truths are counterintuitive and all common sense and received wisdom are wrong. That seems to be what's gotten Aubrey Daniels riled up.

From Management Excellence: The Wonderful and Vexing Quality of Sticktoitiveness
"Woody Allen famously offered that, “80% of success is showing up.”  In my opinion, about 99% of success is Sticktoitiveness, which is much about being doggedly persistent in the face of overwhelming obstacles."

Wally's Comment: I don't know about the word, but Art Petty has the insight right. The quality of hardiness and the ability to finish things are valuable indeed.

From Leading Blog: lead:ology - What is Leadership?
"The fact that there are so many and assorted definitions of leadership speaks to the very human aspect of leadership. It is as varied as there are leaders and leadership needs. A good definition needs to allow many perspectives. It should create awareness. It should include leaders at all levels. It should raise more questions than it answers. It should lead to who, why, where, and how. Who is a leader? Why do they lead? In what context? When are they leading? How do we know? How do we evaluate it?"

Wally's Comment: My personal preference is to avoid discussions of what leadership is, because I've found them to be mostly theological. Everyone pretty much leaves with the beliefs they came in with. I picked this post for you because Michael McKinney has done a superb job of isolating some of the key issues.

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 group dynamics and innovation, business process improvement, leading change, leadership development, and the leadership thinking of the best and the brightest scholars.

And be sure to check out Weekly Leader where I'll try to get you thinking about The Question 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.