I am an educational leader who is striving to equip and empower those around me to not just survive, but THRIVE!Having recently traveled to the Gallup Organization headquarters in Washington DC, I spent time gaining an understanding of my leadership strengths as described in StrengthsFinder. Gallup developed StrengthsFinder based on a 40-year study of human strengths to articulate the 34 most common leadership talents. My specific strengths included: positivity, strategic, maximizer, winning others over (woo), and futuristic. I was pleased to have spent this time analyzing my leadership strengths, because the principal internship has proven to confirm them; however, it was especially helpful to have strengths to affirm and provide terminology to articulate my leadership strengths. Additionally, because I value the idea of authenticity and presence so much, I find that my time management skills must be honed and implemented constantly. I practice a concept I coined for myself, “The Present Principal Principle” — In order to build staff rapport, I must be present. In order to build “street cred” with students, I must be present. In order to connect with the community, I must be present. Bottom line: I must be present in all I do. This means being both physically visible and emotionally present for all stakeholders. Alan Watts’ The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety paints a clear picture: “Tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present, since it is in the present and only in the present that you live. There is no other reality than present reality, so that, even if one were to live for endless ages, to live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly.” Therefore, in order to fulfill one’s future vision as a principal, there’s an acute necessity to live out today...with efficiency and empathy.