Instead of studying leadership, why not spend some time studying leaders and strategies in the wild? You can learn a lot from leadership experts, but you always see the leader and what he or she does through the expert’s personal lens. Supplement that learning with studying real leaders in real life situations and draw your own conclusions. The posts in this series will help you.

Every week I’ll point you to articles by and about real leaders in real situations and to articles about how real companies are faring in the marketplace. Read them. Think about them. Draw your own lessons and conclusions from them. Then try to apply those lessons in your own real life.

This week I’m pointing you to articles about Ryan Cohen, Dawn Kamerling, Barbara Humpton, An Conghui, and Jean-Claude Biver.

From Guadalupe Gonzalez: Chewy’s Co-Founder and Former CEO Explains How the Startup Went From Zero to a $8.7 Billion Public Company

“Ryan Cohen explains what helped drive the pet products company’s astronomical growth”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From James Ledbetter: How I Bounced Back After Losing My Mother and Half My Business

“After losing her mother, Press House founder Dawn Kamerling suffered another loss–in her company. Here’s how she found strength through it.”

From Dale Buss: Masters of Manufacturing: How Barbara Humpton, Siemens USA CEO, Democratizes Digital

“It’s up to Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens USA, to help keep that contrast going in the here and now for Siemens’ $23 billion in annual revenues and more than 50,000 employees in the company’s largest market. And yet for Humpton, another urgent priority is to position her company for a future that can look cloudy even for a giant that has dominated in many traditional areas of industry and technology — but isn’t assured of the same dominance as manufacturing and markets undergo ongoing digital revolution.”

From Jenny Chong and Art Kleiner: Chinese cars go global

“An Conghui, president of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and CEO of Geely Auto Group, explains the future of flying cars and the value of an international brand.”

From Felipe Monteiro: Leaving a Lasting Leadership Legacy

“Although Biver has stepped away from the day-to-day business, he insists on giving back. Not only by supporting his corporate successors and his mentees, but also by sharing his enthusiasm for lifelong learning with younger people. He recently sat down with me to discuss his life change and adaptation, reflection and stewardship.”

For some ideas about how to get more from this series of posts, check out “Studying Leaders in the Wild.“