You can see it in their eyes--the hurt, the doubt, the humiliation, the embarrassment. They are "broken wing" superintendents, those who have hit the glass wall of rejection and failure. They flew, some with no warning, smack into the window pane of contract buyouts or termination. The high flyers have flopped from the sky, dazed onto the deck, faced with healing their wings and hoping to fly another day. This is not a new phenomenon. In a profession fraught with conflict, it is easy to run into the glass wall. Given a political and dynamic context replete with multiple and conflicting expectations, highly competent school leaders can easily be brought down. Inexperience can shorten flights. So can tackling unwinnable battles over principle. Others crash because they react too quickly or too slowly. Some fly blindly in the shadows and fog of complex issues. And sometimes it is just plain time to go. No matter how they hit the glass, these superintendents carry the emotions, feelings and hurts of people wounded or victimized. Their confidence may wane in these times, and picking themselves off the floor is not as quick or easy as people think. When you are competent and hold a highly visible position of authority, falling from a lofty public perch is very visible. Crashing in solitude is a different matter from colliding when the public is watching and commenting. But hitting the glass need not be fatal. Broken wings sometimes heal stronger than the originals. However, restoring emotional energy and confidence needs to take place before taking flight and getting back into a leadership role such as the superintendency.