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 Sun-Maid, Florida Blue, Walmart, Amazon, Kohl’s, and AT&T.

From Jonah Engel Bromwich: The Raisin Situation

“Millennials just weren’t eating raisins. So Sun-Maid, the century-old company with the iconic little red raisin boxes, hired someone to convince them that they should.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From Oliver Wyman: Florida Blue’s C-Suite is 40% Female. Here’s Why.

“Females nationwide make 80 percent of healthcare’s buying and usage decisions, represent 65 percent of healthcare’s workforce, yet are 13 percent of healthcare’s CEOs, according to Oliver Wyman’s Women in Healthcare Leadership 2019 report. One exception? Florida’s Blue’s far above-industry average 40 percent female C-suite representation. To learn more, Julie Murchinson, Health Evolution’s CEO, and Terry Stone, Women in Healthcare Leadership co-author, Oliver Wyman’s Managing Partner of the Health & Life Sciences Practice, and Global Chair for Inclusion and Diversity, interviewed the President and CEO of Florida Blue, Patrick ‘Pat’ Geraghty, to learn how he’s shattering the status quo of female healthcare leadership.”

From Michael K Spencer: Walmart is becoming a Technology Company

“It’s the age of super firms and as Walmart was late to the party in E-commerce, it’s finally understood it needs to follow Amazon into everything in order to keep up.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From Robin Lewis: Kohl’s and Amazon: Just the Beginning

“On top of a bunch of serial disruptions, she recently inked a deal with Amazon transferring them out of a successful test program to spread the partnership across the entire 1155 store fleet. Simply said, Kohl’s will accept Amazon returns. The traffic building synergy is awesome. According to some analysts, Kohl’s test of the model in the Chicago area spiked comp store sales about nine percent vs. one percent elsewhere. Out of all shoppers who returned Amazon products, 56 percent were new Kohl’s customers or customers who had not been to the stores for nearly a year. Furthermore, Kohl’s sells Amazon-branded products in its store, transitioning from the store within a store concept to a wholesale relationship with Amazon.”

From Geoff Colvin: AT&T Has Become a New Kind of Media Giant

“AT&T was not actually acquired by a company called Game of Thrones Corp. earlier this year, though consumers could be forgiven for wondering. AT&T cell phone stores across the land seemed to have been taken over by a vaguely medieval industrial behemoth that had filled them with the heraldry of House Lannister, House Stark, and other Westerosi factions, plus costumes, weapons, and GOT-emblazoned smartphone cases, wireless chargers, and water bottles. Viewers of March Madness on AT&T-owned TBS saw slightly weird GOT-themed promos for the college basketball tournament and GOT-themed tweets (‘Send a raven—they’re on to the #Elite8. #MarchMadness’). Another sign of GOT’s ascendance: The Iron Throne itself—or rather, a seven-foot-high, 310-pound replica of it—sits prominently in the lobby of AT&T headquarters in Dallas.”

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