The primary objective of this research study was to explore the relationships between principals' life experiences and their transformational leadership behaviours. Over 212 public school principals completed both the lifetime leadership inventory (LLI) and the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to identify the factors for validly interpreting principals' responses for both the LLI and MLQ. Seven factors were interpreted for principal responses to the LLI while four factors best represented principals' leadership assessed by the MLQ. Results from the analysis of the structural model representing the relationships between principals' life experiences and their transformational leadership behaviours found that principals' early leadership work experiences and interactions with mentors had the largest relationships with their transformational leadership behaviours. Outcomes from this study can be used as a foundation to support further investigations examining the relationship between school leaders' life events and their leadership behaviours. In addition, these results suggest that information related to principals' life experiences and their transformational leadership behaviours may help with decisions for admitting students to educational leadership programmes and with the recruitment of new and experienced principals.