A change in leadership has a ripple effect on everyone in the school community, and whether it results in good or bad appointments, it can have a lasting impact on individuals and communities alike. New principals must understand and adapt to their new context if they are to be successful school leaders and must come to terms with and negotiate their way through varying degrees of incoming, outgoing, insider and outsider knowledge, but what happens when the appointment comes from within the school? How are teachers impacted by this "new" leader, who in reality, is not so "new" after all? This article discusses actions that internally appointed new principals can perform to result in a smoother transition in schools.