This paper locates "leadingful leadership literacies" as a lens for considering changing contexts for leadership and work in higher education management. It makes a contribution to higher education leadership studies by offering an empirical account of expanded notions of leadership. These extend the field beyond those unwilling to critique managerialist knowledge claims. I will argue that not only managerialist practices per se are of concern as we face discontinuous change in the sector--changes which move well beyond rationalist truth claims--but that these remain largely unchallenged and have moved into spaces that should be (re)claimed by leadership.