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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 a Super Bowl servant leader, subtle intimidation, dialects and development, disorienting leadership, and leadership for networks.

From Scott Eblin: A Super Bowl Servant Leader
"It’s Monday morning and time to break down the Super Bowl.  My main goal in this post is to share some Steelers coach Mike Tomlin-inspired thoughts on servant leadership.  Have to spend a little time first, though, on a few observations about this national holiday"

Wally's Comment: Coaches are often used as leadership examples, but seldom as well as Scott Eblin does here.

From Mary Jo Asmus: How to Moderate Subtle Intimidation
"You are a leader who is skillful at creating and sustaining healthy workplace relationships. You don’t use fear or threats to get what you want. Despite your skill, you may unknowingly intimidate others in a more subtle way. In fact, you are probably more intimidating than you think you are; most leaders don’t see it in themselves."

Wally's Comment: The only thing I don't like about this post is the title. Here's my version: "Don't scare people, even if you don't mean to." Having been the scarer far too many times in my life and career, I can tell you that this is a post I wish I'd read forty years ago.

From Tanveer Naseer: Are You Using Dialects To Develop Your Employees’ Skills?
"One of the approaches I regularly use on my blog is taking seemingly unrelated topics to the field of leadership to help illustrate some ideas that would help leaders become better enablers for those under their stewardship. In this piece, I’d like to share a new discovery regarding how bats communicate and its connection to how leaders should develop their employees’ skills."

Wally's Comment: This is not a common use of the word "dialect" and I confess that this could be the first time I've learned a lot from research on bats, but it is and I did. So will you.

From Jim Stroup: Disorienting leadership
"Some years ago there was a horrific crash during training maneuvers by a US Air Force precision flying team. All four aircraft in the group failed to pull up from a steep dive, and piled directly into the desert floor. The official statement blamed a mechanical malfunction in the lead aircraft, but the general view among military pilots seemed to revolve around a sort of human error peculiar to this special type of formation flying."

Wally's Comment: Retired Marine Jim Stroup knows a lot about leadership and he's got some strong opinions about how we discuss it and teach it. He's also a master of presenting his observations and thoughts in a spellbinding way.

From Harold Jarche: Leadership for Networks
"It takes different leadership to increase collaboration and support social learning in the workplace. Leadership is the key, not technology. Most of our leadership practices come from a command and control military legacy that have been adopted by the business world for the past century. But hierarchies don’t help us manage in networks."

Wally's Comment: This is a very insightful post. If the organizing principle shifts from hierarchies (and silos) to networks, the leadership principle needs to shift from "command" to "influence."

There's an interesting illustration of this principle playing out in the coverage of events in Egypt these days. Older commentators may wonder "Who's controlling the crowds?" but younger commentators ask, "How are the crowds organizing?"

Carnivals and Lists and Such

Leadership Development Carnival

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 articles about women in the C-suite, 5 habits of quality-focused companies, Tata's HR strategy, Gross Domestic Happiness, and Aging Boomers as a business opportunity.

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 .

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 offer you my 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.