Power is an essential component of leadership and has many complex forms. The article explores how a sample of higher education leaders in the United Kingdom engages with and uses power. It examines how we might understand leaders' orientation to power in an environment where many disapprove of its use. The analysis suggests leaders habitually use varying forms of power, though often this is denied or obscured by a range of strategies. The purpose of this positioning in relation to power is suggested to be not mere impression management but an adaptation that enables leaders to function effectively in an environment often hostile to leadership. Nevertheless, leaders, and those responsible for their appointment and development, need to encourage greater self-awareness in order that ethical choices can be made about the use of power. Rational, psychodynamic and political perspectives are suggested to be useful tools to develop deeper reflection.