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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 defining "great leadership," the quest to be forgotten, a simple leadership formula, the inner life of teams, and the future (or not) of the job.

From Mike Myatt: Defining Great Leadership
"Reflecting back on my experience with leaders I find one thing tends to shine a spot-light on great leadership more than any other – time. How a leader stands the test of time is the only definitive validation of ability and accomplishment."

Wally's Comment: Mike Myatt makes an important point. The only real way to determine if a leader is great is to wait. Time will tell the tale.

From Andy Klein: To be highly effective, managers must overcome the need to be needed
"For those familiar with Fortune's leadership development program, Mary Jo's line will undoubtedly sound very familiar. In discussing the responsibilities of management, Steve Brown says: "Management at any level has one major purpose, and that is to create an entity that will function (and prosper) in our absence." The way you rate a manager is not 'how badly do the people need the manager' but 'what can they do without the manager'. To create such an entity, we must develop and strengthen people. It's a basic, core concept, but one that many managers have difficulty appreciating, respecting and living up to."

Wally's Comment: I liked this post, in part, because it repeated a sentiment that I used to share with managers who reported to me. I told them that the true test of their work would come when they were not there.

From Terry Starbucker: Connecting To Happiness: A Single Model For Leadership Excellence
"This past weekend I co-hosted our annual gathering of 150 business practitioners and aspiring entrepreneurs in Chicago, SOBCon (“SOB” stands for Successful Online Business). The theme of this year’s conference was “The New Leadership and Loyalty Business”, and in my presentation and work session, I spoke about a leadership “model” that can be used by leaders in just about any situation – a model that, if it is applied correctly, will put a business, organization, or non-profit on the fast track to excellence."

Wally's Comment: I love Terry's leadership model. I'm always on the lookout for simple frameworks that have worked for experienced leaders. Check this one out to see if there's something here for you to try.

From Jane Perdue: Will’s 7 Ways to Keep Innovation Alive
"In a past life, I had the honor of working on a special project team responsible for a company-wide initiative. The team leader was an extraordinary gentleman who knew his stuff…and leadership. He had assembled an eclectic team of high performers and knew how to lead the group in churning out remarkable results. So remarkable in fact that the team was asked to remain together and take on another assignment. Everyone agreed to do so and again exceeded corporate expectations for the work product. As one might expect, corporate headquarters asked the team to handle a third initiative. To everyone’s surprise, the team leader said “no, it’s time to disband.” Some thought he was foolhardy, others said he was just plain crazy. A few understood the wisdom of what he did."

Wally's Comment: This is a stellar post about the natural lifecycle of teams. Over time, the very diversity that makes good problem solving teams more effective moderates as the people get to know each other. When that happens you have to change the mix or disband.

From Ann Bares: The Job: Bound for Extinction or Evolution?
"For some time now, experts have been predicting the death of the job."

Wally's Comment: Ann Bares does a great job of marshalling the arguments for why jobs as we know them will disappear in the future and then outlining some of the forces pushing in the opposite direction.

Carnivals and Such
The Leadership Development Carnival - May 1, 2011 Edition

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 forecasting, living with black swans, IT and the rest of the business, management traps, and what CEOs really do all day.

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.

They 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.

I reserve the right to make exceptions to the above.

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.

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.