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 Dorothy Thompson, Amy Cuddy, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Randall Stephenson, and Si Ramo

From Andrew Saunders: Keeping the lights on with Drax boss Dorothy Thompson

“The chief executive of Britain’s biggest power station on how to manage in a crisis, just in time delivery and generating renewable electricity that doesn’t rely on the weather.”

From Michael Bungay Stanier: Amy Cuddy on Power, Presence & Your Boldest Self

“In this conversation, Amy and I discuss: The connection between presence and power, What we think of when we think of power, Strategies to put into play whenever you feel powerless, Why a stress-free state is unrealistic, and how some situations call for a certain level of nervousness. And much, much more!”

From Adam Bryant: Sukhinder Singh Cassidy: Either You Manage Me or I Manage You

“my father loved running his medical practice as a business. Early on, he taught us all how to do his ledgers and his income taxes. I was doing his income taxes when I was about 10 or 11, and then as a teenager I built a system to do his ledgers on the computer.”

From J. P. Donlon: How Randall Stephenson Took AT&T into the Future of Digital

“The twin forces of advanced high-speed wireless networks and the emergence of sensors in use everywhere (Internet of Things) have not only transformed the nation’s first communications company (Ma Bell, now AT&T), but will change every other industry along with it.”

From Michael Hiltzik: Remembering Si Ramo, America’s pioneering renaissance man

“Si Ramo was a skilled amateur musician, an engineering pioneer, a management guru, a builder and teacher. The Utah-born Ramo had come west to study at Caltech in 1933 and joined General Electric before the war. He received his first patent just after his 28th birthday and the last of his portfolio of about 40 at the age of 100, making him the oldest inventor to earn a patent.”