In this article, the author recounts her experience, through three practices: collaboration, inquiry, and reflection, when she first encountered the practice of Critical Friends Groups (CFGs) and describes how she creates a CFG-inspired learning environment. As a middle-school principal, she has found that the three practices--collaboration, inquiry, and reflection--are as important to her leadership skills as they were to her classroom skills. Here, she discusses the impact of collaboration, inquiry, and reflection to her teachers and staff members.