Grooming an assistant principal to lead a school is a privilege for any principal and enables him or her to leave a larger mark on the field. Although assistant principals are ultimately responsible for their own professional growth, principals must not underestimate their responsibility to help train aspiring principals. Preparing assistant principals to lead schools of their own, means giving them opportunities to see all aspects of how to run a school, feedback that makes a difference, and professional development. Most important, principals must model the way to lead people. Assistant principals need explicit professional guidance as they learn the skills necessary to become principals. In this article, the authors interviewed 10 principals who are helping their assistant principals prepare for promotion to the principalship to determine which strategies effectively groom assistant principals. On the basis of the comments and experiences of these principals, the authors have identified some specific strategies that help "build the bench."