The more that large scale, sustainable educational reform becomes the agenda, the more that leadership becomes the key. In this article I will argue that ‘the principal as instructional leader’ has been a valuable, but too narrow a solution. Instead, the instructional focus must be embedded in a more comprehensive and fundamental set of characteristics which I call ‘the principal as leader in a culture of change’. I will also argue that to achieve the latter we must address the even deeper matter of ‘leadership and sustainability’.