An argument is made in this article for a link between leadership and innovation, when innovation is an outcome of the work approaches and practices that underpin an educational technologist's academic course designs. The practice of instructional design (ID) is continually being challenged to rethink its conceptualization of academic course designs, especially for web-based affordances, to release designers to new processes that more align with the modern use of communication devices and networks. I suggest here that the time has come for ID to leave non-adaptive, linear thinking behind not only in how and when to prescribe certain technologies but in how to approach educational change with an adaptation of personal leadership that drives innovation (Ashbaugh, 2012).