Welcome to the annual update on the 50 Best/Top leaderships blogs on the web as of July 2013. As readers will see, this list has changed quite markedly in just a 12 months period. These significant changes result from a number of factors including:
Alexa rankings of individual blogs have changed considerably. This mainly arises not only because of the time invested by individual blog authors in the last year but because many more web sites and blogs have been launched (and Alexa estimates that there are now around 60 million active (as opposed to dormant) web sites in the world).
Readers a year ago (and since) alerted us to qualifying leadership blog sites we were unaware of last year and those are now included. Some of these (indicated in orange) have appeared quite high up in the list (the highest of the 15 in total at number 7).
Some leadership bloggers have done little to enhance or add to their blogging efforts and have slid backwards on the list or are out altogether in terms of site traffic. It’s a real reminder in the online world that if you stand still you go quickly in the wrong direction!
This year we have produced the list in a similar way, with the Alexa ranking as the main determinant of order. As we said last year, the Alexa rank (to be found at www.alexa.com) is an imperfect ranking raw score for web site popularity (as measured by traffic to each site) but it is a useful relative comparison metric. In essence it measures how popular a site is (from 1 being Google, 2, Facebook and 3, YouTube, all the way down to the 60 millionth or so active site on the web as at July 2013). However we have also provided other data as usual and two new enhancements to the list-this includes the geographical location of the blog author or owner, and whether or not they have gone up in the list and how far (shaded in green) or gone down in the list and how far (in red).
So what are the main highlights of the Top 50 Leadership Blogs?
A total of 15 blog authors in the 2012 list slipped below the top 50.
18 blog authors have gone up in the list.
17 blog authors have gone down in the list.
15 blog authors are entirely new to the list.
There are 42 male bloggers in the top 50 list and 8 females (down 5 from last year). Jesse Lyn Stoner at number 23 is the highest on this year’s list. However, women are clearly underrepresented, given the population, and males dominate the top 20.
Top 50 Blog authors come from 5 countries around the world (including Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and the UK but the list is dominated by US based authors (of which there are 43 in the top 50). The top 5 are all US based and so are 17 of the top 20.
US leadership bloggers come from 24 States with authors writing most from the sunshine states of California and Florida leading with 7 blogs each. This is followed by Michigan with 4 and North Carolina and Pennsylvania both with 3 authors based in those States.
Apart from the new entrants the biggest movers up the list in the last 12 months are Jon Warner at ReadyToManage (up by 24 places or 1.5 million in the Alexa rankings or from 40 to 16 in the list) followed by Art Petty (up 17 places from 27 to 10), Michael Myatt (up 14 places to No 2 in the list) and Michael Ray Hopkin (up 8 places to 26 in the list).
So, let’s now look at the list. It includes the names of the individual blogger or blog owner on the left, and their primary role(s) in his or her working life. It also includes a brief summary about the focus of the blog, so that individuals can visit the ones that appear most interesting. Happy exploring!
2013 Rank
(2012)
Blog Owner
Alexa Rank (7/1/13)
Blog Summary / Focus
1
(2)
Michael Hyatt
Author, consultant and speaker
TENNESSEE, US
20,512
Frequent and interesting blogger (3-4 times a week) on leadership development (intentional leadership) and related issues from this popular author and trade publishing expert.
2
(16)
Mike Myatt
N2Growth
Consultant and coach
PENNSYLVANIA, US
28,886
This blog is aimed at senior leaders and focuses mainly on strategy, innovation, career dynamics as well as organizational development.
3
(5)
Dan Rockwell
Leadership freak
Coach, trainer, mentor
PENNSYLVANIA, US
142,220
This blog seeks to offer broad leadership, coaching and mentoring to individuals in regular 300 words or less articles. Dan also well understands the realm of social media.
4
(4)
Wayne Dyer
Author and speaker
HAWAII, US
166,718
Main focus of this blog, from the popular multi-book author is personal leadership or self-development and finding ways to better motivate yourself and others.
5
(3)
Michael McKinney
Leadership now
Author, consultant, coach
CALIFORNIA, US
179,045
Long standing leadership development blog (leadership now) with a focus on leadership across all communities and not just business (although organizational life figures heavily).
6
(7)
John Hunter
Curious cat
Consultant
MALAYSIA
187,113
This blog is about managing through process thinking and improvement. Posts focus on systems thinking (lean, total quality, six-sigma etc.).
7
New
Michael Rogers
Consultant, coach and Author
ARIZONA, US
209,898
Main focus is on leadership, but also covers many other topics including meetings , time management, teamwork and coaching.
8
(9)
Bob Burg
Author and speaker
FLORIDA, US
339,514
Blog’s focus is on many of the ideas contained in Bob’s books which essentially relate to building relationships, networking and giving more in order to achieve more.
9
(11)
Dan McCarthy
Great leadership
Author and Consultant
MASSACHUSETTS
374,045
This blog is focused on executive leadership development and skill building from an experienced author and academic. Better OD and HR practice thinking is also covered.
10
(27)
Art Petty
Coach, Trainer, Author
ILLINOIS, US
410,878
Main focus is on developing leadership skills, through building professional presence. Also focuses on critical thinking and decision-making.
11
(8)
Mike Figliuolo
Consultant, coach, trainer
OHIO, US
435,632
Main focus is providing practical skill-building articles mainly in the areas of leadership, strategy, career development, communications and customer service.
12
(13)
John Maxwell
Author, Consultant, coach and speaker
FLORIDA, US
439,825
Very popular and best-selling author in the leadership realm whose blog focuses on the qualities and competencies needed to be a leader in many organizational settings.
13
(14)
Kevin Eikenberry
Consultant and speaker
INDIANA, US
526,639
Main focus is ideas, thoughts and suggested action steps to help leaders-the path towards Remarkable Leadership (and a Remarkable Life) by travelling from learning to action.
14
New
Tanveer Nasseer
Coach, Author and speaker
QUEBEC, CANADA
543,261
Main focus is on helping managers to help to develop leadership and team-building competencies to guide organizational growth and development, and create a fulfilling sense of purpose in what they do.
15
(20)
Mark Sandborn
Author, consultant, speaker
COLORADO, US
579,376
This blog focuses mainly on leadership development, personal development, better customer service, and teambuilding.
16
(40)
Jon Warner
ReadyToManage
Author, consultant and coach
CALIFORNIA, US
707,729
This blog covers many leadership/ management subjects as well as articles on soft skill development with a range of checklists and models.
17
New
Chris Locurto
Consultant, Coach and Speaker
CALIFORNIA, US
722,654
This blog offers a range of personal insights on leadership, managing people, and financial stewardship, posting articles 5 times a week.
18
New
Gerard O Donavan
Consultant, Trainer and Coach
DORSET, UK
734,632
This blog offers a range of insights mainly on coaching but also on leadership and the development of management skills and competencies
19
(17)
Steve Roesler
All things workplace
Consultant / coach
PENNSYLVANIA,US
745,133
Main focus is on providing articles which help leaders develop by offering coaching advice to try out and additional skills and methods.
20
(23)
Jon Gordon
Author, speaker and consultant
FLORIDA, US
753,028
Main focus is on providing leaders with ideas for inspiring people and organizations to work with more vision, passion, positivity and purpose.
21
(18)
Tom Schulte
Linked2Leadership
Author and consultant
GEORGIA, US
796,754
This blog is run by one editing author and many other contributors globally with a main focus on leadership development, organizational health, and personal & professional career growth.
22
(15)
Wally Bock
Three Star Leadership
Author and consultant
N. CAROLINA, US
941,923
Aimed at leaders at all level, this blog offers particular insights, information, tips, lists and pointers to help managers to perform at a better or higher level.
23
New
Jesse Lyn Stoner
SeaPoint Center
Consultant, Author and Coach
CONNECTICUT, US
980,343
Main focus is on leadership development and creating engaged workplaces. Aims to assist those who want to make a contribution, as a leader at work.
24
(10)
Terry St. Marie
Consultant and Coach
OREGON, US
1,195,947
Optimistic blog focused mainly on the power of being positive as a person and a leader, and how to have more purpose, empathy and compassion, humility and love for others.
25
(26)
David Zinger
Consultant
OTTAWA, CANADA
1,308,326
This blog has a mix of research-based and practical approaches aimed at building more authentic relationships and achieve better results.
26
(34)
Michael Ray Hopkin
Lead on purpose
Consultant and Speaker
UTAH, US
1,342,801
This blog mainly focuses on product/service management as a key leader task but also includes ideas on persuasion and working better.
27
New
Scott Herrick
Cube Rules
Consultant
WISCONSIN, US
1,436,642
This blog offers a range of leadership and soft skill development articles but from a different perspective-it’s aimed at individuals who work in cubicles who have to manage staff as well as manage their boss.
28
New
Dan Oestreich
Consultant, Coach and Speaker
WASHINGTON, USA
1,438,662
This blog focus on support and insight for leaders of all kinds, formal and informal and offers a wide array of articles and other resources to help increase self-knowledge.
29
(25)
Ellen Weber
Brain leaders & learners
Author and consultant
NEW YORK, US
1,518,550
Main focus is showcasing an academic model for a left/right side of the brain approach called MITA™ which aims to foster more innovative leading and learning.
30
(28)
Mary Jo Asmus
Coach and Consultant
MICHIGAN, US
1,550,990
This blog focuses on leadership development with a main emphasis on improving, and sustaining relationships with the people.
31
(36)
Ed Brenegar
Leading Questions
Consultant and Coach
N. CAROLINA, US
1,620,295
This blog aims to assist leaders in developing transitional and visioning skills to meet organizational demands and meet new opportunities and challenges they face.
32
(21)
Scott Eblin
Coach, author and speaker
CALIFORNIA, US
1,622,885
Main focus is on leadership development and coaching managers to have “the right” behaviors and mindsets to tackle future change.
33
New
George Ambler
Consultant
SOUTH AFRICA
1,634,875
This site focuses on those interested in learning to lead more successfully in times of change, which requires a new set of leadership practices.
34
(29)
Susan Mazza
Random acts of leadership
Consultant and Coach
FLORIDA, US
1,645,808
Main focus of the blog is translating leadership and OD theory into pragmatic strategies and practical applications to improve performance.
35
(41)
John Spence
Consultant, Author and speaker
FLORIDA, US
1,655,126
This blog has an international experience focus and concentrates on strategic thinking, teamwork, and leadership development topic areas.
36
New
Gary Cohen
CO2 Exhale
Consultant, Coach and Speaker
MINNESOTA, US
1,731,560
Main focus is on leadership development, businesscommunication, executive coaching and a range of ideas on improvement as a leader of any kind.
37
New
Gordon Tredgold
Leadership Principles
Line Mgr and Coach
UK/Germany
1,750,706
Areas of focus are Transformational Leadership, Operational Performance Improvement, Organizational Development, Program and Change Management and Creating Business Value via IT.
38
(30)
Steve Farber
Author, speaker and Consultant
CALIFORNIA, US
1,888,845
This blog promotes the “Extreme Leadership” approach offering ideas and coaching/ communication to leaders at all levels.
39
(24)
Ben Lichtenwalner
Modern servant leader
Consultant and Coach
MICHIGAN, US
1,901,091
This blog aims to promote the concept of servant leadership, helping leaders to increase awareness, adopt the practice and take action.
40
(43)
Cheri Baker
Consultant and trainer
WASHINGTON, US
2,266,147
This blog is focused on handling dysfunctional teams and helping managers to become stronger and more capable leaders at the skills level.
41
New
Ed Batista
Executive Coach and change consultant
CALIFORNIA, US
2,371,643
This site focuses mainly on leadership, coaching and change issues but covers other issues related to leadership from time to time.
42
(48)
Lisa Rosendahl
Consultant and Speaker
MINNESOTA, US
2,419,344
Main focus is on ideas for leaders to better manage human resources including leading people, inspiring commitment and managing change.
43
New
Leader’s Beacon
Multiple authors
CALIFORNIA, US
2,705,447
Main focus is on leadership, management and coaching but also covers many other management and soft skill related topics including sales and personality.
44
New
John Agno
Coach and Author
MICHIGAN, US
2,726,643
Main focus is on coaching but also seeks to help leaders to gain greater clarity and focus while expanding self-awareness as they design the personal and professional life wanted.
45
(50)
John Baldoni
Coach and Consultant
MICHIGAN, US
2,761,414
Long standing leadership development focused blog from this widely published US consultant.
46
New
Suzanne Updegraff
Employee Devt Systems
Consultant
COLORADO, US
3,204,278
This blog offers articles on better leadership, enhancing interpersonal skills, and on creating a workforce that adapts to change, and is creative and innovative
47
(46)
Jim Stroup
Managing leadership
Consultant
TURKEY
3,216,066
Areas of focus are practical steps for leader or manager development plus organizational strategy, design and execution.
48
(42)
Frank Kanu
Genious One
Consultant, Speaker
FLORIDA, US
3,240,632
To the point blog on management and leadership strategy and matters but with lots of broader areas of focus to stretch the creative thinking process.
49
(38)
Tom Foster
Management blog
Consultant
FLORIDA, US
3,382,422
This blog focuses on the leadership of teams and whole organizations by looking at establishing better relationships at all levels.
50
(31)
Gwyn Teatro
Consultant and Coach
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
3,473,098
Main focus is on offering ideas on overcoming employees feeling under-valued and under-rewarded (who are likely to under-perform).
Many lists like the one above encompass bloggers who may talk about a lot of other subject areas well beyond leadership and related matters, and indeed may have greater experience or expertise elsewhere. This is not to say that such broadly based bloggers are not popular or interesting to know about and subscribe to-just not in a list that should be about organizational leadership and leadership development primarily. In the 50 sites above therefore you will find no mention of people such as Anthony Robbins (personal development), Guy Kawasaki (entrepreneurship) or Malcolm Gladwell (thinking/creativity) but only writers whose main focus is improved leadership or management skills in some way, shape or form. Another excluded group is the many excellent bloggers that write about leadership issues from a faith-based standpoint (such as Ron Edmonson’s blog which would have come in at number 8 on the list if included). We take the view that these belong in a separate list and it would therefore be useful to publish this at some point.
The 50 blogs listed above are all “very good” and in that sense there is no sense in which one is relatively “better” than another (as this is so often about the focus of the writer and the relative interests of the reader). Michael Hyatt is top of the list because he has the 20,512st most visited site on the web right now according to Alexa rankings (in the top 0.03%). In fact even our 50th blog site (Gwyn Teatro) has the 3,473,098th most visited site. (Last year’s number 50 by the way had an Alexa rank of 5,330,891 which would not have made the top 50 of course this year). This put our 50th top leadership blog in the top 6% of sites in the entire world. And by the way, this does not mean that blogger popularity or status or even overall money earned follows this order at all. This is a function of who the person is (in career status terms), what they do, how long they have been blogging and even how social media “savvy” they may be, to name but a few factors.
For those people wondering who was close to making the top 50 but not quite, the next 5 blogs are The Leadership Blog (multiple authors out of the UK) at number 51, Lisa Haneberg (out of the US) at 52, Geoff Snyder (out of the US) at 53, Rich Gee (out of the US) at 54 and Michael Lee Stallard (also out of the US at 55).
Please note that the above list was compiled by Dr. Jon Warner, himself a long-term blogger in the leadership realm, (and number 16 on the above list). Any mistakes, errors or omissions are entirely his and should anyone have any suggested changes or input for inclusion in future blog postings such as this please contact him at jon.warner@ReadyToManage.com
Related Resources
Managing in Context Workshop Kit
Managing in Context Workshop Kit Advanced
Leadership styles booklet
Leadership PowerPoint