This article introduces the reader to the Essential Leadership Model (ELM). The ELM provides a vocabulary and framework for clarifying and prioritizing the many complex and competing demands of the principalship. The ELM supports principals in identifying the critical needs of a school and the leadership knowledge, skills, and dispositions to meet these needs. The model assumes an order of operations that effective principals employ to create the preconditions or structures that facilitate the work necessary for meaningful school improvement.