In the interview process, every aspiring principal naively speaks of assuming the role of instructional leader. The candidate has read the right books, taken the right courses, and attended every possible workshop to prepare for the day when he or she would become captain of his or her own ship. However, it does not take long for principals to lose their intended focus and settle uncomfortably into the role of operations manager. In economically disadvantaged schools and urban schools alike, this role tends to require greater attention than the role of instructional leader. Operations management can quickly turn into crisis management. There are days when principals are happy to merely make it through to the end of the day, only to have the vicious cycle begin again the next morning with a new set of operational issues. Because of these circumstances, the author has become a very good crisis manager and a very marginal instructional leader. The author, after working more than 20 years as an administrator, rededicates himself to becoming the instructional leader he always wanted to be.