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 Paul Forte, Richard and Holly Branson, Bill Amelio, Jamie Dimon, and Stacy Brown-Philpot,

From Gabriel Perna: From English Lit Professor To CEO: Paul Forte Shares His Story

“How does one go from being a 16th and 17th century English literature professor to the CEO of a benefits administration company for long-term care and other benefits programs? As Paul Forte, CEO of Long Term Care (LTC) Partners, based in Portsmouth, N.H., tells it, it was a matter of U.S. economics when he completed his doctoral studies in 1980.”

From David Gelles: Richard and Holly Branson: A Father-Daughter Conversation

“The flamboyant billionaire, who built a global empire out of a mail-order record business, looks to his daughter for guidance as Virgin tries to keep up with the times.”

From Patrick Gorman: Avnet CEO Bill Amelio Talks Emerging Technologies, Navigating Change

“Avnet is one of the world’s largest technology distributors, shipping more than 30,000 line items every day, with 15,700 global employees who serve more than 2 million customers in more than 125 countries. Needless to say, its CEO Bill Amelio needs to stay on top a lot of moving pieces each day.”

From Adi Ignatius: “Managers Don’t Have All the Answers”

“Dimon has been at the helm of JPMorgan Chase for more than 12 years. At 62, boyish and sometimes blunt, he remains true to his roots as a straight-talking guy from Queens (albeit one who has an MBA from Harvard Business School, runs the biggest bank in the United States, and is a billionaire)”

From David Gelles: Stacy Brown-Philpot of TaskRabbit on Being a Black Woman in Silicon Valley

“Stacy Brown-Philpot, the chief executive of TaskRabbit, says her race often factors into the perception people have of her when they first meet. ‘No one thinks I’m a C.E.O.,’ she says.”

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