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 Flávio Canto, Monte Lee-Wen, Milton Hershey, Vittorio Colao, and Beth Ford.

From Felipe Monteiro: Leadership Lessons from an Olympic Judo Medallist

“Bronze-winning Flávio Canto has created a network of dojos that is transforming lives in some of Brazil’s roughest neighbourhoods.”

From Gabriel Perna: PPA Group CEO On The Power Of Perseverance

“No one can ever accuse Monte Lee-Wen of taking the easy route in life. Lee-Wen, founder and chairman of Casoro Capitol and its parent company the PPA Group, a real estate investment firm, grew up in Canada in a lower middle class environment. He says his family was fairly poor for most of his childhood. To boot, he’s mixed race and grew up back in a time where interracial marriage wasn’t as accepted in Canada as it is today.”

From Nancy Koehn: The Delicious History of Hershey Chocolate

“Have you ever wondered how Hershey chocolate came to be so popular? Professor Nancy Koehn discusses the life and vision of Milton Hershey, the entrepreneur and philanthropist behind the Hershey chocolate bar, the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the Milton Hershey School.”

From McKinsey: Ten years at the top of a telco: An interview with Vittorio Colao

“The former CEO of Vodafone, who stepped down from the top job last September, reflects on the industry’s challenges and what he learned as a successful global dealmaker.”

From Susie Gharib: Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford Says “Resilience” Is Key To Her Success

“There are only 24 women running Fortune 500 companies. Beth Ford is one of them. Her rise to the CEO job at Land O’Lakes last summer, marked a few firsts. Ford is the first women to lead the Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minnesota dairy company in its nearly 100 year history, and she’s the first openly gay woman to head a Fortune 500 company.”

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