The contributions of personal qualities and role behavior to the leadership of college presidents are discussed. Managerial leadership might be viewed as a developmental process, whereby different personal qualities and role behaviors are important to leader identification, selection, and evaluation. When individuals are first identified as potential leaders, characteristics such as physical appearance, social poise, intelligence, age, and education come into play. In the search, screening, and selection process for academic leaders, the focus is whether the individual is judged capable of continued growth and development. The third major stage is job performance and whether the leader meets the responsibilities of the position (i.e., demonstrates appropriate behavior in roles such as planning, organizing, directing, and communicating). The perceived effectiveness of presidential leadership is a function of personal qualities, college characteristics, situational demands, and sociocultural values, as well as interactions of these factors. Implications concerning training programs in administrative leadership and the evaluation of presidential performance are considered. (SW)