Abstract: The purpose of the study was to identify the critical factors that enable community colleges to remain 'successful' despite having frequent turnover in the office of the college president. High numbers of senior level administrators (presidents and vice-presidents) are leaving the system and few qualified replacements are taking their places. I want to uncover where leadership comes from, how leadership is encouraged, how important is formal position to leadership on a campus versus informal leadership. I conducted a series of interviews at two community colleges in the southern California area. The two colleges both have histories of frequent presidential turnover; 5 presidents each in a 10-year span from 1996 to 2006. These colleges were compared because they had different rates of success based on the Core Indicators of Success as required by California Assembly Bill (A.B.) 1417, the universal measures of effectiveness for community colleges in the state.