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 Stephen J. Immelt, Elaine Bedel, Craig Underwood, Manny Ruiz, and Jack Prescott.

From Adam Bryant: Stephen J. Immelt of Hogan Lovells: Raised to Believe ‘You Can Fix This’

“The chief executive of a global law firm says he came to appreciate that in an international setting ‘your own views about how the world is set up go out the window.'”

From Amy Lynch: For Elaine Bedel, financial security is key for clients

“Four decades ago, when Elaine Bedel made the fortuitous decision to move in a new job direction, she couldn’t have predicted the effects that choice would have on her overall career success.”

From David Pierson: Craig Underwood grows the peppers that go into Sriracha sauce

“Craig Underwood, 72, is a fourth-generation farmer who grows all the chili peppers for Irwindale-based Huy Fong Foods, which makes the wildly popular Sriracha in the signature green-capped bottle. Underwood, a Navy veteran and graduate of Cornell University, farms land from Bakersfield to Camarillo.”

From Nancy Dahlberg: Q&A with Manny Ruiz, the man behind Hispanicize

“Hispanicize is the largest U.S. Hispanic social media and entertainment event of its kind, specializing in marketing, media, film and music, said its founder, Manny Ruiz. ‘What people really love about Hispanicize is that we are the one event that is laser-focused on the aspirations, opportunities and challenges of the U.S. Hispanic.'”

From Paul Walsh: Jack Prescott, of ‘This is all we do, and we do it well’ TV pitch fame, dies

“Jack Prescott, whose reassuring and fatherly delivery of his Twin Cities law firm’s commercial hook of ‘This is all we do, and we do it well,’ made him Minnesota’s most well-known and busiest bankruptcy attorney over several decades, has died.”