This qualitative study examines leadership perceptions of attributes needed for effectively leading organizations within and through change. Current change forces substantiate the need for higher educational institutions to change in order to fulfill their missions. Creating a culture of organizational change presents a leadership challenge. The participants of the study included 15 technical college presidents in the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS). The colleges in the WTCS were all experiencing comparable change forces. Michael Fullan's A Framework for Leadership framed the study, guiding the research question of what are leaders' perceptions of the attributes needed to effectively lead organization through and within change. A second research question asked what challenges leaders face as they strive to develop an organizational culture that embraces or accepts, rather than resists, change. The findings of the study supported the importance of five components of effectively leading organizational change as identified in the theoretical model: moral purpose, understanding change, relationship building, knowledge creation and sharing, and coherence making. The study also found the attributes of communication, trust, and modeling to be significant factors in leading imposed organizational change. The findings demonstrated a difference in leading planned versus forced organizational change, positing a new model for imposed organization change. Leading change has become the norm in leadership. This study adds to the existing literature by providing insight on the attributes of leaders demonstrating effective leadership through change, in the context of current imposed changes on higher education. [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.]