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 pieces by and about Tom Harper, Bethany Mayer, Stewart Butterfield, Rachel Tronstein, and Anne Williams-Isom.

From Anna Schumann: Networld Media: How a “top-heavy” company’s leaders found their niches

“Today’s post is a Q-and-A with Tom Harper, president and CEO of Networld Media Group, a Kentucky-based B2B media company.”

From Caroline McMillan Portillo: Ixia’s new CEO Bethany Mayer talks rebuilding trust, HP’s Meg Whitman and the power of a simple ‘What do you want to know?‘

“With more than 20 years of experience in the networking industry, Mayer has worked up and down the California coast, from Apple to Cisco, SkyStream Networks to Blue Coat Systems, and now to the Calabasas-based Ixia. Bizwomen spoke with Mayer about her plans for Ixia, her work under Whitman and how you earn the trust of your employees. Here’s what she had to say: (edited for brevity and clarity)”

From Omar El Akkad: From Flickr to Slack: B.C.’s Silicon Valley golden boy finds success in failure

“The ‘About’ line of Stewart Butterfield’s Twitter account includes a little stick figure happily shrugging – a visual expression of ‘c’est la vie’ for the emoticon generation. It looks like this: : ¯\_(?)_/¯ It seems an oddly casual self-descriptor for Silicon Valley’s current golden boy, the Canadian mind behind one of the most popular photo-sharing services of all time and a new productivity app startup that has reached a billion-dollar valuation before its first birthday.”

From Frank Witsil: Gardner-White president aims to empower employees

“So, after working for former U.S. president and an energy secretary, she ended up returning to Michigan and now runs the family business.”

From Adam Bryant: The Importance of Straight Talk

“This interview with Anne Williams-Isom, chief executive of the Harlem Children’s Zone, a nonprofit antipoverty organization, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.”