Instead of studying leadership, why not spend some time studying leaders and strategies in the wild? You can learn a lot from leadership experts, but you always see the leader and what he or she does through the expert’s personal lens. Supplement that learning with studying real leaders in real life situations and draw your own conclusions. The posts in this series will help you.

Every week I’ll point you to articles by and about real leaders in real situations and to articles about how real companies are faring in the marketplace. Read them. Think about them. Draw your own lessons and conclusions from them. Then try to apply those lessons in your own real life.

This week I’m pointing you to articles about Lego, Citrine Informatics, Beam Suntory, Google, and Dollar General.

From Jan M. Olsen: Lego rebuilds its business model amid falling sales

“For Lego, it’s time to break down the blocks and start again.
After building up sales aggressively since a near bankruptcy in 2004 through new ventures like films and new toy lines, the company seems to have hit a peak. Its sales are now falling for the first time in 13 years and it says it needs to simplify its operations.”

From Greg Satell: This Company Is Combining Big Data and Materials Science to Revolutionize Manufacturing

“Bryce, who had long been interested in Sabermetrics — developing advanced baseball statistics — had written his PhD dissertation on how similar data driven methods could be used to identify new materials. The two thought they could take the idea further by applying more advanced machine learning techniques to the database in the paper.”

From Greg Trotter: Beam Suntory CEO rides whiskey boom at home and abroad

“‘The great American export story that is bourbon’ is how Matt Shattock, the soft-spoken native Brit at the helm of Beam Suntory, begins to describe his company’s growing presence in the Land of the Rising Sun.”

From Ben Thompson: Google’s Search for the Sweet Spot

“Given that Google is the second most valuable company in the world (after Apple), it is quite clear the company has found a sweet spot of its own. Indeed, Google Search ticks the same boxes as the iPhone:”

From Mya Frazier: Dollar General Hits a Gold Mine in Rural America

“In the poorest towns, where even Wal-Mart failed, the little-box player is turning a profit.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story