This article explores the ways in which senior leaders in the learning and skills sector understand learning leadership and the influence on shaping their practice through the lens of senior leaders participating in a leadership programme. The article examines the extent to which personal theories of leadership are formed from our earliest experiences and how these inform current practice. The article suggests that leadership practice is shaped by not simply the practices seen and learnt at work, nor through replicating behaviours from those who we admire or detest, but within a complex dynamic of personal, contextual and socially defined influences. (Contains 1 note.)