The principalship was studied from the perspective of newly appointed principals in the highly bureaucratized urban context of New York City. Their attitudes, goals, and role and leadership behaviors and the effects of the school-system context were studied. Interviews were conducted with 12 principals from one Pre-K-1, seven elementary and three middle schools in 9 districts. Seven principals were female, and five were African American. The paradigms of leadership that these principals described included aspects of different approaches to the principal's role. Because their intentions and actions reflected different paradigms, it was difficult to categorize their behaviors. Principals who were most efficacious were distinguished by their sense of efficacy and their success in adopting principles of situational leadership. In terms of context, principals were differentiated by the level of support that they received in the schools. Socioeconomic status and school conditions per se had little effect on sense of efficacy, but those with high efficacy did receive support from multiple sources. Efficacious principals demonstrated the basis for transformational leadership: individual consideration. Two tables and two figures present study findings. (Contains 29 references.) (SLD)