North Carolina's community colleges recently went through a reengineering process and a conversion from a quarter to a semester system--the result of several studies as well as a mandate by the North Carolina State Legislature. With these changes came review, restructuring, and a degree of standardization of all curriculum programs. Department chairs had significant responsibility for the changes. This study examines the transformational leadership behaviors of exceptional department chairs in North Carolina community colleges during this period of change, while determining the level of agreement between the department chair and his or her faculty members as to the chair's leadership style. Each of the state's 58 community colleges was invited to nominate one or two department chairs for the study. The population for the study consisted of 32 department chairs, identified by administrators as being exceptional leaders, from 26 colleges. Results indicated that department chairs who lead significant change: (1) are perceived as being highly ethical; (2) possess good people skills and use them to influence and empower faculty; (3) are good implementers of change; (4) have confidence in their leadership abilities; (5) develop individual relationships with their faculty members in order to carry out the work of the department; and (6) pay particular attention to the organizational dynamics that can affect leadership. (Contains 23 tables, 4 figures, and 62 references.) (NB)