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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 getting the true view of you, what to do when things don't work, two important leadership contradictions, taking time to think, and small steps to success.

From Art Petty: Assessing the View on You
"Just about all of us have had that experience where we’ve heard our voice on an audio recording or viewed ourselves on a video recording. “Aack, who is that?” or, “Do I really look/sound like that?” are frequent reactions."

Wally's Comment: The image you have of you is different from the image other people have of you. That's the perception gap. If you can get a more realistic view of yourself, you can probably accomplish more. Art Petty suggests eleven things you can do to measure and manage the perception gap.

From Jesse Lyn Stoner: When The Best Techniques Don’t Work
"Fresh out of college, with a degree in special education, I was quite excited when I landed my first job as a teacher in an experimental program – a joint venture between New Mexico State University and the public schools."

Wally's Comment: Jesse Lyn Stoner shares the story of a time when she tried everything that should have worked and arrived at a moment of truth and learning.

From Terry Starbucker: How To Make Two Key Contradictions of Leadership Work For You
"It’s the moment of truth. That moment when all of what you’ve put into your leadership comes to fruition. It’s when a teammate engages with a customer. All that vision, all that inspiration, all that process, all that teaching, all that alignment, all that mission statement – all that everything  – comes into play right then and there. Because that’s where a business wins or loses."

Wally's Comment : The land of management is the land of paradox and contradiction. Terry Starbucker highlights two of the contradictions. One is "There must be clarity so there can be dissent." You'll learn the other one when you read this fine post.

From Workplace Wrangler: Take Time to Think Offline
"Working professionals today all seem to want wider and faster internet access on their mobile phones. We expect our smart phones to do everything our laptops can do. The result is we’re rarely unconnected anymore. Employers are coming to expect this too. But being connected all the time may mean we are losing the benefits of being offline."

Wally's Comment: You can't think deeply when you're busy. You're busy if you're always connected. Ergo, instead of the Sixties mantra to, "Turn on, tune in, drop out," you might try "Unplug, relax, reflect."

From Chuck Hebert: Creating 30 Day Challenges For Success
"I was recently checking out Ted Talks and came across this short (yet awesome) video clip (3m27sec) of Matt Cutts (Google dude).  Matt shares his perspective on setting and achieving goals through 30 Day Challenges.  While the concept is not new, it’s a great reminder on breaking down goals into something that’s manageable and achievable – 30 Day Challenges.  The idea is if you break down goals into measurable habits, which you can work at daily, then you begin to establish a pattern of living that ultimately leads you closer to your goals.  Popular thinking says it takes 30 days to establish a new habit, thus the 30 Day Challenge."

Wally's Comment: The popular thinking that it takes thirty days to change a habit is mostly rubbish, but the idea of breaking down improvement into small, doable steps, is powerful indeed.

Carnivals and Such

The Carnival of HR hosted at Halogen Software

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 using technology to make performance reviews better, the business of law school, a generation shift in small businesses, hubris, and an interview with Henry Chesbrough about innovation and escaping the commodity trap.

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.