Although socioeconomic status (SES) was found, in early studies, to be strongly related to leader emergence, in recent years the impact of SES on leadership has received little attention. In the present study, 48 teams were asked to work on a turnaround plan and then nominate team leaders. Team leader socioeconomic status was assessed, along with three key leadership behaviors—initiating structure, leader-member exchange, and servant leadership. The impact of these behaviors, and SES, on the quality, originality, and elegance of team turnaround plans was assessed. Although initiating structure did interact with SES with respect to the elegance of team plans, generally, the SES of leaders had little impact on team performance. The implications of these observations for understanding the impact of SES on leader performance are discussed. Keywords: Leadership, socioeconomic status, initiating structure, LMX, servant leadership.