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 George Kurian, Jeff Bezos, Jen-Hsun “Jensen” Huang, Blake Moret, and Celton Hayden Jr.

From Martin J. Smith: The Importance of Embracing Uncertainty

“The recent rebound of Sunnyvale data storage giant NetApp is one of Silicon Valley’s more remarkable turnaround stories, much the same as the story of the CEO behind it, 1995 Stanford Graduate School of Business alum George Kurian.”

From Josh Constine: Jeff Bezos’ guide to life

“Here are Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ tips about inspiration, work-life balance, and how to be an inventor. Oh, and how it felt getting doused with champagne at his rocket landing. The world’s richest person displayed an unprecedented level of candor during an interview at invite-only getaway Summit Series in Los Angeles this weekend.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From Andrew Nusca: This Man Is Leading an AI Revolution in Silicon Valley—And He’s Just Getting Started

“The cofounder and CEO of semiconductor and software maker Nvidia saw the future of computing more than a decade ago, and began developing products that could power the artificial intelligence era. Thanks to that vision, and relentless execution, his chipmaker today is perhaps the hottest company in Silicon Valley. And it may just be getting started.”

From Matt LaWell: Q+A: Blake Moret

“The Rockwell Automation president and CEO looks back at his first full calendar year in the top spot, what he learned from a natural disaster and why he rides his bicycle to the office.”

From Success Labs: Leadership Journey: Celton Hayden Jr., CEO of CC’s Coffee House

“Ensuring he does not fall into the trap of complacency is perhaps the central driving force of Hayden’s approach to life and business. With a self-professed ‘hyper-competitive’ personality, his constant desire to propel change and improvement have served him well in the company he has led since 2013.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story