The collective modes of decision making common to institutions of higher education is fertile ground for activating relational along with positional power to improve individual, team, and organizational performance. Beyond "managing up" as a matter of skill sets and task training, social capital theory opens a view to "leading up" as a separate axis of relational power that operates independently of formal positional power.  A case study of "leading up" with student data by middle managers based in the office of institutional research illustrates options and tactics for optimizing the impact of evidence-based leadership in higher education organizations.