Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are valuable institutions and serve animportant role in the success of not only Black Americans, but all students who are seeking a quality education at an affordable price. Unfortunately, due to continued racial and systemic discrimination, these institutions remain subject to challenges that impact their ability to effectively compete in the higher education marketplace, and private, nonprofit HBCUs are at an even greater disadvantage given that they are not supported by the state. A proven way to enhance the success of an HBCU is to create a strategic plan that allows the institution to establish goals that lead to positive outcomes. To do this successfully, strong leadership is needed to guide the institution toward achieving the stated goals of the strategic plan, and presidents of HBCUs are the key leaders of these institutions. The purpose of this study is to assess presidential leadership and its impact on institutional strategic plans at mid-sized private, nonprofit HBCUs. This study will uncover this phenomenon through the lenses of instrumental leadership theory by learning how HBCU presidents engaged their institutions in the strategic planning process and in the implementation of the strategic plan. This study utilized a qualitative, comparative case study analysis to examine three HBCUs of similar institutional characteristics that all have comparable strategic plans.