This Special Issue examines the importance of power for understanding leadership dynamics. The articles comprising this collection suggest that power is fundamental to leadership theory and practice. They illustrate, for example, how power is enacted in the decisions, statements and claims that leaders make, in their practices and the many ways they influence followers, and through the organizational structures, resources, information and technologies they have at their disposal. The papers also indicate that leadership power dynamics are highly context specific. A primary purpose of this SI is to showcase how, why and with what consequences power dynamics can reflect and reinforce leadership practices: in short, the articles illustrate how leadership and power are frequently inextricably-linked