Effective community college leaders make a difference in the culture and performance of the institution. The research study sought to discover leadership strategies that lead to the achievement of high performance outcomes in community colleges. In 2013, the American Association of Community Colleges Competencies for effective leadership criteria defined the constructs of effective leadership in community colleges. The criteria and study defined effective leadership strategies as the organizational strategy, resource management, communication, collaboration, community college advocacy, and professionalism (American Association of Community Colleges, 2013) present in the lived experiences of leaders in high performing community colleges. The exploratory phenomenological study involved interviewing 17 community college presidents who led the highest performing community colleges in the nation (as identified by the Aspen Institute in 2013). The 27 thematic findings align, to greater or lesser degree, with the American Association of Community College-defined and literature-defined leadership strategies. The results reinforce the impact of leadership strategies on community college performance, standards, reputation, purpose, strategic direction, and focus and emphasize the need for community college presidents seeking to increase performance to employ the strategies discussed in the study findings. High performing leaders focus on people, identify a few major initiatives each year, find the right fit, harness the energy of the people who are ready to achieve greatness, remain focused on the success of students, focus on issues rather than people or organizational status, take time to develop thoughtful communications, maintain an unwavering focus on the community college, and remain humbly aware of their impact. [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://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]