Reforms initiated by successive governments over the last two decades in the pursuit of raising standards within their particular political ideologies in education in England have challenged the way schools are financed and governed, their relationships with parents and students as their work has become increasingly more transparent and, more recently, their relationships with other schools. For example, England promotes Academies (a version of American Charter schools), it has one of the most sophisticated student academic tracking systems in the world, performance management and an external inspection system alongside national standards for teachers at all levels. The bulk of leadership training programmes are brokered by the National College of School Leadership which is now a direct arm of government policy. One consequence of these changes is the need for school principals to be able to manage the increased human tensions which result from this 'performativity' agenda, to ensure that their vision and that of their staff for education as inclusive and leading to measurable attainment and student wellbeing is realised. This paper will explore the ways in which successful principals manage the emotional and intellectual demands of the policy intensive environments in which they work, focusing on leadership by conviction.