Nothing is more important to the success of community colleges than quality of leadership. It influences student outcomes, faculty success, and financial stability at all levels of the institution. With the impending retirements of so many baby boomer community college leaders, the leadership gap is an issue of increasing concern. In this article, the author stresses the need for a new generation of leaders who are well prepared, not only by formal higher education, but also by short-term, targeted leadership experiences. These new leaders need to be more nimble, more resourceful, more adaptive, more political, and more sophisticated than their predecessors. They have to not only welcome change, but also be agents of change. They must understand and incorporate into their leadership the challenges of new ideas, new programs, new ways of leading, new responses to old problems.