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 Julio Portalatin, Leigh Radford, Millie Marshall, LVMH, and John T. Williams.

From Patrick Gorman: Mercer CEO Believes Executives Need To Navigate And Lead Change

“Julio Portalatin, President and CEO of Mercer, a global consulting firm that delivers advice and technology-driven solutions to help organizations meet the health, wealth and career needs of their changing workforces, believes that executives need to navigate and lead change within their organizations. And he’s no stranger to that challenge, leading more than 23,000 employees who support clients in over 130 countries.”

From Lola Fadulu: Lessons From a Failing Company

“When Leigh Radford was young, her father worked in logistics at Procter & Gamble, formulating new products and technologies for Pringles. Radford’s mother worked as an educator at the University of Cincinnati, specializing in early-childhood education. Later, Radford worked for Eastern Air Lines, which would become Continental Airlines, before going on to get her master’s in business administration and rising through the Proctor & Gamble ranks to become the vice president of P&G Ventures. I spoke to Radford about her career choices and finding a job that combines the left and right brain. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.”

From Dale Buss: Toyota’s Millie Marshall Exemplifies Female Leadership in Manufacturing

“Millie Marshall began her career as a champion of Toyota manufacturing in America, and now she’s become a champion of females in American manufacturing.”

From Shelley E. Kohan and Pam Danziger: Why LVMH Grows Year After Year

“LVMH is preemptive in their business strategy staying ahead of the competition through unwavering branding and creative innovations across the six business segments. The key differentiator is executing both precision and preemptive behavior consistently over time. To stay ahead of the competition, each individual LVMH brand operates with preemptive behavior that drives margin, profit and loyalty. LVMH’s 3P distribution strategy has been in practice for decades giving them an indisputable, sustainable, competitive advantage.”

From John T. Williams: How To Lead: One Longtime CEO’s Letter To His Children

“After 50 years leading in three different industries (newspapers, broadcasting and manufacturing) John T. Williams, CEO of Hagerstown, MD-based Jamison Door Company, decided to write down what he’d learned from his experiences to help his adult children make their way in business—and the world.”

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