Purpose: This paper demonstrates how the positioning of self and others affects change in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The discourse of various educators was collected during various interviews and discussion groups. A positioning theory framework was used to analyse the data and derive conclusions. Findings: It is shown that if individuals are understood in terms of their agendas in relation to the organisational context that they can be better led. Research limitations/implications: The quantity and quality of data available has limited the integrity of conclusions drawn from this paper. Further research is proposed that will provide a more robust understanding. Practical implications: An approach to understand how to deal with various stakeholders is presented for leaders. There is a need to deal with each person as an individual depending on how their personal agendas influence their priorities. Originality/value: This paper introduces a social constructionist perspective to leading academics. (Contains 4 figures.)