Front-line leaders are critical to the success of hospitality organizations. Successful development of leaders is contingent upon higher education, industry, and hospitality management students working in partnership. A gap exists between the wants, needs, and desires of hospitality recruiters and what recruiters perceive academia is producing. However, industry has a responsibility to continue developing leadership skills of new leaders’ post-graduation. This study examined front-line leaders in full-service hotel environments. The purpose was to explore what front-line leaders know about leadership, understand how the knowledge was acquired, and if the knowledge was used effectively. This qualitative study takes a phenomenological approach and utilizes a propensity for participative decision-making (PPDM) scale to assess the use of leadership knowledge. Results from the study suggest front-line leaders form thoughts about leadership behaviors whether formally educated on the topic or not. College graduates were more likely to have PPDM and be familiar with leadership constructs. However, a gap still exists in the development of front-line leaders’ post-graduation. It is in the best interest of industry to invest in leadership development or unwittingly risk outsourcing leadership to newly hired but unknown front-line leaders.