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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 liberating rules, praise, feedback, supporting your boss, and the beloved bully who stops change in its tracks.

From Chris Edmonds: Enable Employees with Liberating Rules
"In life and work, rules can help us stay safe, work effectively together, reduce conflict, and understand how best to contribute to common goals. It’s the absence of clear guidelines in the workplace that can lead to power plays, politics, cliques, and further dysfunctions."

From Mary Jo Asmus: When things go right
"One of the most common things I hear from a leader’s stakeholders is that they don’t feel the leader is giving enough praise and encouragement. It’s time to balance your criticisms with some positivity:"

From Ed Batista: Give It To Me Straight (Effective Feedback)
"In a number of settings I work with groups whose purpose is improving members' leadership and interpersonal skills, and the primary tool we use is feedback. And a common trait shared by almost every one of the hundreds of people I've worked with over the last eight years is a desire to hear direct, candid feedback. I literally hear people say "Give it to me straight" in almost every group. But this simple request turns out to be more complicated than it sounds at first."

From Karin Hurt: 5 Ways to Support Your Boss (Without Kissing Up)
"I don’t know your boss. She may be great.  He may be a pain in the neck.  He may be supportive.  She may be a real witch. I’ve been that boss.  I’ve had all those bosses.  All leaders have “bosses” of one sort or another.  Sometimes you are the boss of you. Most of the times, someone else also enters the boss scene.  Regardless of what breed of boss you have today…"

From Kate Nasser: Change Leaders: The Beloved Bully Is Stopping You
"Change leaders, your ability to implement needed change faces one great challenge — the beloved bully in your organization. The beloved bully has power and influence that outstrips yours. The beloved bully is sometimes visible, sometimes hidden. In any case, the beloved bully is well-liked! That is the source of its power. Are you prepared to oust the beloved bully for the good of the business?"

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" points you to choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms. The last issue had pointers to articles about the Boston Beer's new can and Maker's Mark's new proof, learning from Lincoln, Samsung v. Apple, the watchmaking industry, the future of work, women and the workplace and more.

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.

Also as a general rule, I do not select posts that are either a book review or a book report.

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. .

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.