This paper examines the social phenomenon of leadership succession in a school from the perspective of the successor, based on the author's own experience in succeeding to the principalship of a junior high school. Using a combination of participant observation, informal interview, and existing and collected documents, the study was designed to examine a native view of succession--how this principal made sense of the experience from the moment a succession was possible until the role of new leader no longer seemed useful for explanatory or interpretive purposes in the school. The interaction among groups and individuals separates the period of study into three parts: prearrival or pre-succession (April to August), the succession period (September to December), and post-succession (January to February). Two themes drawn from the data and from other succession studies surfaced immediately: personal traits and others' perception of successor's intentions. Four additional themes that dominated the experience are identified and discussed: (1) perceptions of actors developing across time; (2) actors' expectations; (3) environmental norms, conditions, and events in the school, district, and community; and (4) new social patterns, which developed gradually to a dominant position in the coded references. The discussion illustrates how each of these six themes delineate the three stages of succession. References are included. (TE)