This paper reports on selected findings from the project “Revisiting Successful Principals”. We have revisited some of the schools which participated in the International Successful School Principal Project ISSPP five years ago. In particular, we have focused on how the principals are positioning themselves as leaders, and how they are involved in the construction of a public self, while responding to our questions about fostering learning and sustained improvement. The analysis for this paper draws on data from interviews with the principal and the teachers in two combined compulsory schools (grade 1-10). In the first school the same principal whom we met five years ago, was still in post, in the second school there had recently been a change in principalship. The following questions have guided our analysis: How do principals shape their roles, scripts, and styles of interaction in a context of challenging changes? How do principals respond to external and internal expectations? How do they argue for their priorities? Our findings demonstrate that the learning centred approach we identified earlier had been sustained during the five years, and both principals focused on multiple ways of influencing staff motivation, commitment and working conditions. In the school with a new principal in position we identified a noteworthy change. The goal was the same, i.e. improved student learning, but there appeared to be a major change in the preferred leadership strategies in order to fulfil the school’s mission. As such, the study confirms that a principal may have a significant influence on the school’s policy and in particular the preferred strategies. In addition, the study revealed that, despite the new expectations which are raised towards schools in society, a situation of continuity was significant at the local school. It seems like Norwegian principals still have the “option” of paying little attention to managerial accountability.