The flagship professional organization, the American School Counseling Association, emphasizes the need for school counselors to be systems change agents. School counselors also recognize the need to be leaders within their workplace. When they can exercise leadership, school counselors have an opportunity to impact the school's culture and climate, ultimately serving the needs of students. Currently, the literature offers leadership theories and models to be adopted by school counselors, but less is known about auxiliary factors that may impact the ability of school counselors to establish themselves as leaders. This grounded theory study explored the bi-directional relationship of school counselors and the systemic factors that impact their ability to lead. Three categories emerged from the data: the continuum of episodic leadership to sustained leadership identity, politicking, and systems of power. Through further data analysis, a new theoretical model was established. The model suggests ideal conditions for school counselor leadership with a specific attention for leadership development, close proximity to power and positive feedback from the system. If these conditions are present, school counselors are more likely to develop their leadership identity and associated leadership skills. Implications of the systemic condition theory for school counselors, counselor educators, and stakeholders are discussed. Suggestions for future research are presented. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]