Walking a Fine Balance: The Life History of a Woman Principal

This article describes the leadership journey of Kathryn, an educational leader, in relation to current research on women's experiences as educational leaders. This life history was developed as a grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) study. Conducted over a two-year period, the semi-structured interviews used to conduct the study were influenced by Van Manen's (1992) work on life history interviews as a means of studying individuals ' lived experiences. The interviews were triangulated through field note observations and document analysis. In ad-dition to exemplifYing life history as a research method, a framework for study-ing leadership development emerged based on the themes: commitment, personal competence, sense of self-esteem, reflection, appreciation of others, open communication, problem-solving, power sharing, collaboration, shared decision-making, and sense of visioning. The themes were explored in relation to the early years, the early career, and the leadersh ip career of Kathryn as a prin-cipal. The findings remind us that many of the qualities closely linked with transformational leadership begin during family and early school life