For middle school students, the essence of 21st-century leadership development is being “in influence”versus being “in control.” A core student leadership skill involves listening intently to others, framingothers’ concerns, and advancing the other person’s interests. Creating contexts in which middle school studentsfeel a profound impulse to dialogue regarding common cause enables students to experience the dynamicsof leadership development firsthand. In solving large-scale, intractable problems, the distinctive leadershiptrait of our nation’s founders was not that of leaders-as-hero but rather that of leaders-as-hosts. The leadership lesson for middle school students as tomorrow’s leaders is: it is time for all the heroes to go home.