When I was in school I had limited leadership training, which was a bit unfortunate because of the importance for instructional designers to be leaders in their organizations. Most of the training I received was simply either on project management or some light interpersonal items. For me, I find that some of the traits that help instructional are technical competence, emotional intelligence, tact, and not only trustworthy but being trusted. I wanted to spend some time exploring the IDs role as a leader and how some of what we know about what makes a good leader can help instructional designers in this effort. Both some of the big ideas and the practical ways that we can improve our leadership skills.