An analysis of the international environment of oil industry and its developments shows that the oil industry sector will remain as an essential component of both energy and world economy. However, it will be a quite different environment with different characteristics ؛ meaning, it will be an industry with different technologies, challenges, requirements, opportunities, and players all calling for a change in the business model and corporate-based leading of players on the basis of the environmental changes. One fundamental reform which the National Iranian Oil Company needs to adopt is internationalization in order to adapt to the upcoming environment. A primary step in this regard will be changing the framework of corporate leadership compatible to the market and oil industry domain. The purpose of this article is to present an optimal internationalized model of corporate leadership for the N. I. O. C. based on the grounded theory. Having analyzed the interviews, the final framework was developed. Findings show that the optimal model includes fundamental changes along the macro-corporate leadership and provids a balance between business and non-business goals so that in the long run the best performance can be materialized. To reach this end, internal and external mechanisms of corporate leadership at the N. I. O. C. must be changed. The most important changes in the internal mechanisms will cover ownership pattern, structure of board of directors and its committees, internal and external controls, and the business conduct bylaw. The most significant changes in the external mechanisms must occur in the statute law of the N. I. O. C., legal supervisions independent of this company and independent auditing. The optimal framework will bring about such outcomes as raising foreign capital, access to international capabilities and technology transfer, ability to impact international political-economic relations and developing various capabilities arising from international activities.