Leading a highly performing and sustainable enterprise has become a major concern for business leaders worldwide due to challenges from increasingly uncertain, highly competitive and fast-changing business environments, globalization and high-technological advancement, among others. The adverse effects of the 2008-9 global financial crisis should have served as a wake-up call for radical changes in leadership and business thinking. Both academics and practitioners alike are searching for leadership practices that can strategically drive long-term corporate performance and sustainability in firms, an area that is currently lacking. This paper empirically investigates some of the leadership practices that the literature suggests influence organizational performance and corporate sustainability. At present, most leadership research has been conducted in developed economies, with very little empirical research done in emerging Asian economies, such as a fast-growing country of Thailand. Using a cross-sectional survey, data were gathered from 357 business leaders in Thailand. Factor analysis results revealed eight leadership practices, including enabling and trusting team, valuing people, empowerment, ethics, long-term orientation, quality, stakeholder consideration and innovation, which were postulated to enhance long-term corporate performance and contribute to corporate sustainability. Findings from multiple regressions indicated that innovation, high quality and stakeholder consideration significantly and positively predicted enhanced long-term corporate performance. In addition, it is significantly evident in this paper that innovation is the key driver for corporate sustainability. Therefore, organizations should consider applying and integrating these strategic leadership factors in their organizational leadership and management to grow their corporate performance, competitive success and sustainability in the long run. This empirical analysis and its findings provide a starting-point for further research. Lastly, implications and future directions are discussed.