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 Janelle Bruland, Steve Jones, Sarah Al-Hajali, Ray Dalio, and Rob Daugherty.

From Jill Griffin: You Don’t Have To Be Superwoman To Have It All

“Janelle Bruland is an entrepreneur, business leader and high-performance coach who inspires others to live highly engaged, impactful and successful lives. She is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MSNW, a company she started in her living room in 1995 with a handful of employees. Today, MSNW has grown under Janelle’s leadership into a regional facility management company, named one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies by both Inc. magazine and the Puget Sound Business Journal. Janelle has won numerous awards including SBA Washington Business Person of the Year and the Nellie Cashman Woman Business Owner of the Year.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From Gabriel Perna: Allied Universal CEO Bet On Himself And Won

“In the late 1990s, he had taken a small security services company by the name of Universal Protection Service in Santa Ana, California and doubled its revenue in a few short years. By 2000, the owners of the company wanted to sell. Jones and a partner, who also worked at the company, convinced the owners to sell to them—even though they didn’t have any money.”

From the London Business School: Changemakers: Sarah Al-Hajali

“Stem-cell therapy entrepreneur who fuses business objectives with a sense of passion and social purpose.”

From Sachin Waikar: Bridgewater Investments Founder Ray Dalio: Invest in Idea Meritocracy

“The investment icon says a system of thoughtful disagreement creates competitive advantage.”

From Billy Yost: Rob Daugherty Takes Hiring Higher at American Airlines

“Rob Daugherty details how he and his team led the transformation of American Airlines’ post-merger talent acquisition department from the ground up, up, and into the sky.”

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