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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 power of working with people you like, "managing" engagement, flaunting your learning and development, spotting blind spots, and Dan McCarthy's reflections on leadership development.

From Bret Simmons: The Importance Of Working With People You Like
"I’m a big fan of job satisfaction. As I have reported here before, the research evidence consistently shows that individuals satisfied with their jobs are more committed, better organizational citizens, and even better performers. The evidence also suggests that organizations with satisfied employees outperform organizations with disgruntled employees."

Wally's Comment: Bret Simmons ties how workers feel about their co-workers to job satisfaction and job satisfaction to performance. This matches my own research that resulted in the "8 Characteristics of Highly Effective Workplaces ," where it's covered under "Community."

From Management Craft: Managing Engagement - Oxymoron?
"I love this post by Mike Cook over at Human Capital League called, A New Year's Wish List for Employee Engagement Professionals. Personally, I think every manager and leader ought to consider him/herself an employee engagement professional - but not in the way you might think."

Wally's Comment: Too much of the blather on employee engagement seems to suggest that there are levers you can pull or magic incantations you can mutter to make it so. In real life, engagement is an emergent property, there are a few simple things we know that bosses can do to coax it into emergence, but there's no recipe, no real direct measurement, and no management.

From Mary Jo Asmus: Note to c-suite: flaunt your learning and development
"Some of those in the c-suite of some organizations want to keep it a secret when they are involved in any kind of leadership development. This manifests itself when individuals in those hallowed positions either believe that they are beyond learning new things (they have shut themselves off to new learning opportunities), or they receive “special” learning opportunities, in a sequestered and secretive way so that the rest of the organization doesn’t know that they are receiving “training” or “development”. I fear for these senior leaders and their organizations."

Wally's Comment: This wonderful post by Mary Jo Asmus suggests that you should talk your walk when it comes to training and development.

From Dan Rockwell: Spotting Blind Spots
"You don’t see you like others see you. Blind spots are things that others easily see in us but we don’t or won’t see in ourselves."

Wally's Comment: Dan Rockwell is right there with Robert Burns who said: "O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us."

From Dan McCarthy: Reflections on 2010: The More I Know About Leadership Development the Less I Know
"While it’s great to take the time to bask in those moments of glory, it’s also important not to let it go to our heads. Because it seems like when we do – when we start allowing ourselves to get all puffed out and feel like some kind of guru or role model- that’s when we uncover some blind spot about ourselves, screw something up, or discover some new ideas that challenges our deeply help beliefs. That’s when we’re reminded that the journey to great leadership has only just begun."

Wally's Comment: Dan McCarthy is not only my favorite expert on leadership development. He's also one of the most thoughtful people I know. Even if leadership development is not your field or passion, you can benefit from Dan's shared reflections. It's a wonderful post with which to end this year's series of top posts from the independent business blogs.

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 usually features five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms. The last issue reflected the slowed-down nature of the Christmas holiday with a selection of excellent blog posts from 2010 plus a little humor.

Here, on Three Star Leadership, I post things that will help a boss at any level do better and live a better life. At Results vs Activities, I join other bloggers with posts on talent development. My blog at the Toolbox for HR is People and the Changing Workplace .

Find out more about my latest book, Ruthless Focus: How to use key core strategies to grow your business or just jump right over to Amazon and buy a few copies.

If you're a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor's Support Kit.

And be sure to stop by at Weekly Leader where I'll try to get you thinking about The Challenge 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.