This paper discusses some of the key challenges and points of tension pertaining to leadership in higher education in Kenya. Effective leadership approaches are discussed including the context of why effective leadership is more important in Kenyan public higher education now than ever. The paper considers whether recent changes in higher education in Kenya--notably the increase in student populations; rapid increase in the number of public higher education institutions; major changes in the labour market and the steady reduction in the funding of public higher education institutions-pose fundamental challenges for the pattern of leadership and management in the institutions. Given the complex context within which higher education leaders in Kenya now work and the challenges posed by these recent changes, this paper reviews what might constitute effective leadership practices within the higher education context. The paper argues that public higher education institutions in Kenya need to develop new models of leadership to make sense of the highly complex political, economic and cultural landscapes of the modern world in general and Kenyan society in particular. In addition, the paper suggests that Adair's (1973) Action Centered dimensions of leadership could be applicable and that transformational leadership with its emphasis on distributed leadership styles and collegial decision making may offer such model.