10 Traits of Highly Effective Principals
Elaine K. McEwan
Lewis Carroll, Alice Adventures in Wonderland

“Cheshire-Puss,…would you tell me,
please, which way I ought to go from
here?” “That depends a good deal on
where you want to go,” said the Cat. “I
don’t much care where—” said Alice.
Then it doesn’t matter which way you
go,” said the Cat. “– so long as I get
somewhere,” Alice added as an
explanation. “Oh, you’re sure to do
that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long
enough.
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
Proverbs 29:18 KJV
The Soul…never thinks without a picture.
Aristotle
Management

The capacity to handle multiple
problems, neutralize various
constituencies, motivate personnel…
Leadership
 Is
an essential moral act, not
as in-- most management—
an essentially protective act.
It is the assertion of a
VISION!
The Envisioner

“There is no more powerful engine
driving an organization toward
excellence and long-range success
than an attractive, worthwhile, and
achievable vision of the future,
widely shared.”
Nanus (1992. p3)
Envisioner Exemplar: Larry Fieber

“A Leader needs to be able to
envision success instead of failure.”
-- Principal Lois Scrivener
Envisioner Benchmarks

Leaders spend considerable effort gazing across
the horizon of time, imagining what it will be
like when they have arrived at their final
destination. Some call it vision; others describe
it as a purpose, mission, goal, or even a
personal agenda. Regardless of what we call it,
there is a desire to make something happen, to
change the way things are, to create something
that no one else has ever created before.”
--Kouzes and Posner (1987, p.9)
Envisioners are Hedgehogs

Focus is the force that enables
Envisioners to intuitively know
whether or not a particular action or
decision will move their school
forward or take it off course. They
have what the Japanese call hoshin,
a sense of direction that points their
internal compass toward “true
north.”
Envisioners Feel Called

Highly effective principals feel called
not to a job per se but to the
opportunity to make a difference,
change the educational landscape,
heal an ailing school, or work for
the concepts of equity and
excellence.
Envisioners have Resolve,
Goals, and Lifevision

Committed to a specific cause,
ideal, value or principle.
Envisioners Can See the Invisible

Descriptors such as universal,
immeasurable, an object of the
imagination, and unusual
discernment or foresight come to
mind. Vision is not what you will do
tomorrow but where you are going
in the next five to ten years.
Envisioners Know Where they
are Headed

Mission is the direction that
emerges from the vision and guides
the day to day behavior of the
school.
Envisioners Have Compelling Visions

Highly effective principals are
passionate people with a compelling
vision that have captured the hearts
and minds of the staff members.
Envisioners Can Articulate
their Visions and then Make
them Happen
The Big Thing
Average Principals keep the buses,
budgets, and boilers humming.
 Good Principals are warm and
caring people.
 Great Principals do and are all of
the aforementioned plus they have
focus, purpose, vision and mission.
 “The fox knows many things, but
the hedgehog knows one big thing.”
