Dean Fink draws upon his own leadership practice to reflect upon and illuminate the realities of leading schools and schools systems. His forty years as a practicing school and school district leader in Ontario plus his ten years as a consultant and academic provides a unique and powerful backdrop for a contemporary tour around leadership theory and practice. One of his main messages is that leadership does not require superhuman heroes; rather he suggests that most have the capacity to assume an important direct or indirect leadership role through the appropriateness of our invitations to others. Leadership, he suggests is everywhere, it is not the preserve of one individual but is a form of collective influence which involves the many rather than the few. The book focuses on the centrality of core values that shape leadership practice. It explores the potential of personal invitation, trust, integrity, respect and optimism as fundamental components of successful leadership. Through examples, stories and reflections the book illuminates and celebrates the human dimension of leading. The book explores the way in which reason, ethics, common sense, imagination and intuition interplay to create an intricate personal tapestry of leadership knowledge and understanding. Attention is paid to the challenges of leadership that go beyond the superficial designer leadership to address the deep moral issues that face all leaders in schools or school systems at some time. This book contains the following seven chapters (1) Challenge; (2) Commitment; (3) Values; (4) Qualities; (5) Learnings; (6) Trajectories; and (7) Succession. (Contains 1 figure and 331 end notes.) [This book was published by Paul Chapman Publishing.]