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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 tips for a new leader, springtime leadership lessons, re-charging your batteries, two kinds of imagined success, and the value of experimentation.

From John Ikeda: Five Tips For the Brand New Leader
"When I entered the Navy as a 26 year old Ensign many years ago, I thought I knew how to lead. I was college educated, had a few years of life experience under my belt and had just finished at the top of my class at Aviation Officer Candidate School. I was ready for anything – well, except for maybe reality. I remember my first month in the squadron as a blur.  A lot of new faces, a lot of new opportunities to excel, and a lot of opportunities to screw up. Here are my Top Five Tips for the brand new leader."

Wally's Comment: The great thing about today's business blogs is that, like good books, they can help you learn from other people's experience, as well as your own. John Ikeda shares lessons from early in his career that will help you do better, sooner.

From Tanveer Naseer: A Springtime Reminder on Leadership, Communication, and Collaboration
"While hanging outside in my garden, I heard the unmistakable calls of a flock of Canada geese migrating back home from their winter sojourn. As I watched the flock pass over in their distinctive V-shaped formation, I was reminded of lessons on leadership, communication, and collaboration which these birds so effectively illustrate."

Wally's Comment : Only a really fine blogger, like Tanveer Naseer can turn an incident like the above into an insightful post, ripe with lessons you can use.

From Mary Jo Asmus: Four Ways to Recharge Your Leadership Batteries
"You are a really hard-working leader. Long hours are often required over extended periods of time. By working harder and longer, you think you are making a dent in the workload."

Wally's Comment : One thing I've learned over the course of my career is that, with the exception of a short burst here and there, I'm more productive when I have breaks and time off. I'm also easier to live with. In this post Mary Jo Asmus builds on the work of Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, who have been sources of wisdom I've looked to for years.

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: Are You Taking Your Team to the Moon? What's Next?
"The year was 1960. President Kennedy announced the United States would “send a man to the moon and bring him back before the end of the decade.”  He painted an audacious picture, considering NASA had not yet invented the necessary technology.  Ten years later, through focused energy, dedication and herculean effort, the team at NASA succeeded.  If you had been born by then, chances are you remember exactly where you were on July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong made history as the first person to walk on the moon."

Wally's Comment: A clear idea of the objective is important for success, but it's not enough. Jesse Lyn Stoner compares the experience of NASA and CNN and teaches a lesson about the important difference between a goal and a purpose.

From Stephen J. Gill: Experimentation
"“What scientific concept would improve everybody’s cognitive toolkit?” This is the question that Steven Pinker asked 164 scientists and intellectuals who are part of the Edge Foundation network. The resulting virtual forum is rich with scientific, linguistic, and social concepts that offer a fascinating and thought-provoking array of very useful ideas. One of these concepts is “experimentation”.

Wally's Comment: Experimentation is powerful because you experiment to learn and if you learn you have succeeded. That moves you away from the language of risk taking and success/failure and toward the language of learning. It underlines the power of feedback. In this post, Stephen J. Gill ties the idea of experimentation to organizational development concepts such as "action learning."

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.

How I Select Posts for this Midweek Review

The five posts I select to share in my Midweek Review of the Independent Business Blogs are picked from a regular review of about sixty blogs I check daily and an additional twenty-five or so that I check occasionally. Here's how I select the posts you see in this review.

They must be published within the previous week.

They must support the purpose of the blog: to help leaders at all levels do a better job and lead a better life.

The must be from an independent business blog.

As a general rule, I only select posts that stand on their own, no selections from a series.

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.