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Progressive schools consistently lament the dearth of capable leaders who can take up the reins at the top and sustain a robust stride towards continued school improvement.  One of the challenges facing schools in the respective context is the changing role and skillset of leaders that are expected to thrive in a ubiquitous digital world.  For example, a significant requirement for tomorrow’s school leaders is the penchant for service that goes beyond the professional demands of the assigned function and opens horizons for permeation of altruistic thought and meaningful contributions to the wider goal of ensuring a harmonious existence within the global community for mitigating/eliminating the chance of a misstep that might jeopardise a school’s future in an increasingly ‘sensitised’ and ‘connected’ world. Additionally, most of the literature on leadership has been written before the dawn of the Digital Age and its disruptive influences.  Consequently, established leadership theories and conventional management practices are being relentlessly tested in an era where profitability is no longer a guarantee of sustainability and huge conglomerates are constantly looking over their shoulders with nervous anticipation of becoming irrelevant from ambitious start-ups.  Furthermore, gaining a degree is no longer considered ‘essential’ for career success as ‘abandonment’ has become ‘fashionable’ due to the ‘glaring’ achievements of ‘dropouts’, who continue to receive ‘rock star’ status within the start-up realm.  This is being reinforced by the huge influx of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and core emphasis on specific skills, rather than broad academic credentials. The mandate for future school leaders increases in complexity when the exponential strides made by Artificial Intelligence (AI) are considered with the prospect of incorporating them eventually as ‘employees’, rather than, the status-quo of being considered as ‘advanced’ machines which have no place in schools.  Consequently, lessons from the past are largely becoming irrelevant as there is no reliable precedence for a Digital world that is constantly being reshaped by innovations that marginalise/outpace ‘established’ rules/regulations/norms of commerce and ‘prescriptive’ management practices.  Therefore, grooming the next crop of school leaders is being optimistically leveraged upon the sanctity of the current best practices and the probabilistic determination of formulated predictions for the future. Consequently, identifying, developing and grooming potential school leaders, should be an ‘ingrained exercise’ woven within the fabric of the school’s culture.  This enables the establishment of an ‘embedded nursery’ for producing skilled school leaders who are not only critical to ensuring a bright future for the school but also, become worthy ambassadors of the school’s brand.  Such a move also converts associated risks with having competent leaders into competitive advantages, e.g., talent poaching is embraced instead of being feared since there is no shortage of skilled successors within the ranks and ‘fresh blood’ flowing through the school’s veins ensures long term vitality, agility and relevancy. So, what are the key traits of a ‘true’ School leader in the Digital Age?  Let’s breakdown the word ‘LEADER’ into its constituent elements and then synthesise the segregated parts in a particular context to gain a clear and insightful understanding of the desired merits:.... By: Murad Mirza