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 OXO Swivel, GE, The Whole Earth Catalog, and women who are defense contractor CEOs.

From Mark Wilson: The untold story of the vegetable peeler that changed the world

“Smart Design’s Davin Stowell shares the origin story of the OXO Swivel, one of the great icons of 20th-century industrial design.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From James daSilva: GE’s lessons won’t determine whether you succeed or fail

“The early morning news on Monday that General Electric ousted CEO John Flannery was surprising to many of us, and it certainly matters to investors, analysts, employees and competitors (and probably historians). But does the success or failure of GE’s CEO really matter that much when it comes to how most of us lead, manage and plan each day? Not necessarily.”

From Art Kleiner: Google in Paperback Form: The 50th Anniversary of the Whole Earth Catalog

“This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Whole Earth Catalog, the magazine and mega-best-selling compendium of books, tools, and ideas. It was a newsprint hippie quarterly in 1968, a National Book Award winner in 1972, a revived edition and magazine in the 1980s, and an ecologically oriented review in the 1990s, until it ceased publication in 2002. Along the way, it helped thousands of people learn how to do new things. It also gave them the courage to put their knowledge to use.”

From Jen Wieczner: Commanders in Chief: Lockheed Martin and the Women Building America’s Military Machine

“CEOs Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin, Leanne Caret of Boeing’s defense division, and Lynn Dugle of Engility discuss the challenges of leading amid hypersonic change.”

For some ideas about how to get more from this series of posts, check out “Studying Leaders in the Wild.“3