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 Sullivan, Susan Wojcicki, Rodney McMullen, Bob Bechek, and Soledad O’Brien.

From Neil Bostock: Sitting down with Sulli: The Adventurous Entrepreneur behind Stio

“Stephen Sullivan’s first decade in the Grand Tetons as a serious skiing and climbing bum, working outdoor retail and falling in love with Jackson Hole, gave him a solid foundation for traversing the trails and climbing the heights of the business world, building not just one but two successful outdoor retail companies; Cloudveil, and his present company, Stio.”

From Jack Nicas: YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki on Transforming the Video Service

“Susan Wojcicki holds a unique place in the history of the technology industry. These days she plays a key role in the future of media and entertainment, too.”

From Steve Watkins: CEO Rodney McMullen’s rise mirrors Kroger’s success

“CEO Rodney McMullen sat down for a rare interview recently with reporter Steve Watkins at the Kroger Marketplace store in Oakley, the biggest of Kroger’s 2,778 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia.”

From Jena McGregor: This year’s best-rated CEO by employees is someone you’ve probably never heard of

“For the past three years, these well-known Silicon Valley CEOs topped Glassdoor’s annual list of the chief executives with the highest anonymous approval ratings from employees on the career web site. But this year, the highest rated CEO is much less well known, at least outside top executive suites. Bob Bechek, the worldwide managing director of Bain & Company, the management consulting firm, was ranked highest on this year’s list. A 30-year veteran of the firm who led a robotics company before joining Bain, Bechek took over its leadership in 2012. Current and former Bain employees who filled out reviews on Glassdoor’s site over the past year gave him an approval rating of 99 percent.”

From Adam Bryant: Soledad O’Brien: Seek Out the Curious and the Fastidious

“It was a very steep learning curve, mostly because there was not a lot of overlap between the kind of journalism I was doing and running a business. A key insight for me was that if you want good feedback from people, you have to create an environment where people want to come and tell you things. But I had no concrete idea of how to do that.”