Background: As project management evolves towards hybrid approaches that combine traditional and agile principles, project managers face increasing complexity in navigating the tension between them. While research has explored managerial solutions, little attention has been given to leadership perspectives. Existing frameworks solely reflect agile leadership, offering little guidance on how to manage the tensions between the agile and traditional principles. This leads to a disconnect between theory and practice as hybrid projects are not simply about embracing one approach over another, but rather about integrating both in a way that addresses the demands of each. 

Purpose: This study aims to explore how project managers in hybrid projects navigate leadership tensions, and whether their leadership style is agile, traditional, or a hybrid of both. Ultimately, the purpose is to build a theoretical framework that reflects the experiences of project managers and supports both explanatory depth and practical guidance.

Methodology: This study adopts a qualitative research design, including semi-structured interviews with eight project managers with leadership responsibility in hybrid projects. The analysis follows an inductive approach, allowing themes and patterns to emerge from the data, as well as a thematic approach to interpret recurring themes.

Empirical findings: This study shows that all project managers adopted hybrid leadership to navigate the contrasting leadership demands in hybrid projects. Furthermore, the empirical findings revealed underlying logics guiding leadership behavior, shaped by various contextual and interpersonal influential factors. 

Conclusion: Building on the empirical findings, this study provides a framework that highlights how project managers face multiple contrasting leadership demands, with all but one giving rise to leadership tensions. Instead of offering a one-size-fits-all solution, this framework contributes by illustrating the dynamic nature of hybrid leadership.