Academic psychiatry faces challenges that go beyond the familiar triad of teaching, research, and service. They lie in the increasing size and complexity of our institutions and the need for our faculties to develop skills that will enable them to effectively manage the systems within which they operate.Leadership skills are among the most important that must be mastered. How can this be done?First, we should recognize that there are many distinguished leaders among our own ranks. We should tap their brains more than we do. We rarely ask the leaders in psychiatric education how they became proficient in managing the affairs of their institutions. We seldom ask them to explain how they inspire others to follow, or, better yet, to become leaders themselves. We need to hear from those who have success stories to tell so others can learn some of the lessons of successful leadership in our own field.We can also learn from experts in other fields. The references in this article are a good place to begin for anyone who wants to improve leadership abilities. Books on every aspect of management fill the bookstore shelves. They are a rich resource as well.Finally, academic departments should identify the development of leadership skills among its faculty as an institutional goal. A systematic approach to the subject is needed. With the chairperson as role model, the subject can be approached as an integral part of faculty development: seminars can be offered to junior faculty and residents, and a series of supervisory and consultative sessions can be given to all who have administrative responsibilities. This is done in some departments, but it is far from universal (14,15). Much more is needed. I have found that junior faculty and about-to-be chief residents respond readily to the opportunity.Academic psychiatry is capable of accelerating the development of its own leadership and improving its position in competing for the resources needed to pursue its goals. What is needed is the commitment to do it.Abstract Teaser