How do principals establish themselves as caring and collaborative leaders while maintaining unilateral authority? This guide reconciles the competing priorities inherent in a principal's day-to-day responsibilities. Not only will it assist new and veteran principals in their efforts to compassionately position teachers and children for success, but it will also help them to understand how and when it makes sense to practice the art of tough decision making. Readers will discover how to: (1) Work effectively with school staff, administrators, support personnel, and parents; (2) Achieve the delicate balance between acting as a compassionate leader and tough decision maker; (3) Leverage a wide variety of tips and techniques in their daily practice; (4) Align leadership practice to the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. Discover how the most influential principals merge firm management with caring leadership to foster school success. Following a Preface, Acknowledgments, About the Author and an Introduction, the book contains ten chapters: (1) The Formal Job Description; (2) On Becoming a Collaborative Leader; (3) On Making Unilateral Decisions; (4) On the Need to Be Action Oriented; (5) Nonnegotiable Staff Behavior; (6) Nonnegotiable Student Actions; (7) Nonnegotiable Issues in Dealing With Parents; (8) First Semester: Planning for the School Year; (9) Second Semester: Focusing on a Positive Culmination to the School Year; and (10) Job Position: School Principal---Qualifications: Miracle Worker. This book concludes with Resource A: ISLLC Standards, Bibliography and an Index.