This article emphasises the challenging nature of the leadership role of Faculty of Education Dean in the twenty-first-century university, noting the demands of the managing up, down and out nature of the role. The author argues that leadership expertise is developmental and evolutionary, requiring continual refinement, with experience acting as a scaffold and even perhaps an incubator as leaders develop their own nuanced skills and perspectives. Using her experience of 15 years as Head of School and then Dean in the same Faculty, the author describes the many faces of her leadership, and reflects on the often hidden personal face of enacting "walk the walk" and not "talk the talk" leadership practice.