Myth: The Only School You Learn Leadership from ls the School of Hard Knocks Some people skeptically question whether leadership can develop through formal study, believing instead it can be acquired only through actual experience. It is a mistake, however, to think of formal study and learning from experience as mutually exclusive or antagonistic. In fact, they complement each other. Rather than ask whether leadership devel- ops from formal study or from real-life experience, it is better to ask can't what kind of study will help students learn to discern critical lessons about leadership from their own experience. Approaching the issue in ment, but it also admits that certain kinds of study and training can im- prove a person's ability to discern important lessons about leadership