Much of the literature on leadership in business and education has argued against ‘heroic leadership’ because it is too autocratic, hierarchical, non participative and dependency promoting The alternative approach is of a more democratic, ‘quiet leader’ (e.g. Badaracco 2001), or ‘post heroic’ leader (Huey, J. and Sookdeo 1994; Dutton, 1997) who is facilitative, collaborative, empowering and encourages collective ownership. Despite this, the heroic leader still catches our imagination. An heroic leader, according to Adair (1989, p. 227), is a person “who exhibits extraordinary courage, firmness or greatness of soul, in the course of some journey or enterprise.” Even though heroic leaders were once seen negatively, they certainly can be heroic in showing courage, integrity, and in creating democratic communities. The scholars in this session draw from data collected as part of the ISSPP and present cases of democratic and heroic leadership from three countries (Australia, Sweden, USA), discussing to what extent old and new perspectives of heroism in leadership are evident in successful school principals with findings that suggest we may need to redefine and recast our images of who school principals are today, and what they do to generate academic success for all students.