Curating leadership posts

Oct 2, 2014 | Better Blogging

I like to joke that “I’m just a humble preacher’s boy trying to make his way in the world.” But I’m human and I love it when someone gives me a shout-out for doing a good job. So I was thrilled to learn that Robert Jeffery mentioned my leadership blog in a post on CIPD’s People Management titled “Which leadership gurus are worth reading?

The article is based on Jeffery’s conversation with Nick Holley who is the co-director of the Centre for HR Excellence at Henley Business School.

I’m not one of the gurus who are worth reading. Those honors go to folks like Jim Collins and Robert Kaplan. Check out the post for the whole list. But my blog is mentioned in the last paragraph of the article. Here it is.

“New insights are emerging all the time, and Holley says much of the sharpest leadership thinking no longer makes it into books. He recommends keeping up to speed with three aggregator blog sites – Three Star Leadership, LeadershipNow  and Alltop’s leadership news page – to ensure you stay at the cutting edge.”

Here’s what the posts look like on Three Star Leadership most weeks. The link is to a recent edition.

On Sunday/Monday I publish “Leadership Reading to Start Your Week.” It contains fifteen articles, three each on five topics that leaders are interested in. Most weeks those fifteen articles are from thirteen or more publications.

Tuesday, the post is “By and About Leaders,” with articles by or about individual business leaders. I think that often the best way to learn about leadership is not to study “leadership” at all. Instead, you can study business leaders in their natural habitat.

On Wednesday, I try to raise awareness of business bloggers who do it themselves. And Friday, it’s “Stories and Strategies from Real Life,” where I share pointers to five interesting business stories.

Why aggregation works for me

There are lots of blog strategies that work. Aggregation or curation works for me as a core strategy for three reasons.

I love the topic

Because I’m passionate about all the great writing on the net about leadership, I’m willing to scour a lot of blogs and sites to find it.

The posts deliver value to my readers

Three Star Leadership is written for bosses at all levels to help them do a better job and lead a better life. Pointing those folks to helpful posts fulfills the mission.

I’m disciplined and organized

Finding lots of good posts takes work. It’s not heavy lifting, but it does reward a work pattern that reviews a lot of sources, selects the best pieces, and publishes on time.

Take-aways

I think the best blogs meet those same conditions. They deliver value because the blogger is passionate about his or her topic and disciplined enough to write good blog posts consistently.