6/17/14: By and About Leaders

  |   By and About Leaders Print Friendly and PDF

I think that one of the best ways to learn leadership isn’t studying “leadership” at all. Instead, study individual leaders in their natural habitat and decide what they do that you want to try. Articles by and about leaders and interviews with them are mini-case studies that show you an actual leader in a real situation.

That’s why, every week, I bring you a selection of post about individual leaders. This week I’m pointing you to posts by and about Justin Yifu Lin, Bernard Schwartz, and Anthony Wood. There are also two collections of advice by several leaders.

From Iain Marlow: The pragmatic disruptor behind China’s economic miracle

“The week he got hired as the World Bank’s first chief economist from a developing country, Justin Yifu Lin got on a plane and flew to Ethiopia. When he got there, he left the luxury hotels frequented by the suits ostensibly responsible for uplifting the world’s poor, and walked straight into the middle of a boisterous African market.”

From Adam Bryant: Bernard Schwartz, on the Philosophy of ‘Just Say Yes’

“Loral’s former chief executive says he looked for optimism in the people he would hire — ‘the sense that we’re going to win, and that we’re going to have a successful answer to whatever the problem is.'”

From Newsday: Roku CEO: ‘All TV is going to be streamed’

“If Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is the star of the Internet video-streaming phenomenon, then Roku CEO Anthony Wood is the best supporting actor. Both men play pivotal roles in popularizing technologies that are shaking up the entertainment and broadband industries.”

From Josh Pichler: Top leaders: Advice from the corner office

“Top executives Chad Hilliker, superintendent of the Loveland City School District; Jeff Miller, CEO of Burke Inc.; and Brad Lovell, principal of Creekside Early Childhood School, recently shared thoughts about leading and building successful teams. Excerpts have been edited for space.”

From Sue Shellenbarger and Adam Auriemma: What 16 CEOs Learned From Their First Jobs

“Landing that first job is often seen as a badge of success by college grads. This year, a large majority of them expect a position in their chosen field with formal training and a sizeable paycheck, according to a recent survey from consulting firm Accenture Ltd. Interviews with 16 current and former CEOs suggest those expectations are overblown. Your earliest jobs may indeed brand you for life, their experiences show – but not always in the way you expect. A few first jobs serve as a professional boot camp or launching pad. But others turn out to be a side trip into the weeds or a lesson in jobs to avoid.”

Join The Conversation

What People Are Saying

There are no comments yet, why not be the first to leave a comment?