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 Fitbit, AccorHotels, UPS, Capital One, and Intel.

From Mark Sullivan: How Fitbit is trying to transform healthcare, and itself

“Your physical and even mental health is a growing focus for Fitbit as it tries to fill the revenue gap left by a stalled business in fitness trackers.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From Ryan Estis: What It Means to Be a Heartist: The AccorHotels Journey

“When AccorHotels finalized its purchase of Toronto-based Fairmont Raffles Hotels, it expanded to more than 4,000 properties worldwide, including three separate luxury brands: Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel in addition to its existing luxury brand, Sofitel. Moving through integration posed some new challenges but also provided a much bigger opportunity to reinvent hospitality and the guest experience for the entire brand portfolio.”

From Paul Ziobro: UPS’s $20 Billion Problem: Operations Stuck in the 20th Century

“The site, and other similar UPS facilities, haven’t automated much over decades — despite a rush of new warehouse technology in many industries. Today, the company is paying a price.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From Google: Leaders in People Analytics: Capital One’s ongoing quest to advance HR research

“Capital One’s People Analytics leader explains how his team delivers key insights and rigorous solutions to complex business problems, all while staying on top of the latest HR research.”

From Ben Thompson: Intel and the Danger of Integration

“Last week Brian Krzanich resigned as the CEO of Intel after violating the company’s non-fraternization policy. The details of Krzanich’s departure, though, ultimately don’t matter: his tenure was an abject failure, the extent of which is only now coming into view.”

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