Nothing adequately prepares a new school leader for their position, not prior experience, education, or most academic literature. Efforts to interpret the complexities of new academic leadership into sequential steps, 'how-to's', and 'have-to's, all fall short since they underestimate the true challenges of inter-personal dynamics, the politics of educating, and change management, and neglect the positive forces that often rescue new principals, such as learning how to educate and motivate adults, creating a coherent school narrative, and developing adaptive skills alongside the technical. New Principal: A Primer is a unique exercise in principal support. Weaving bits of diary and memoir, go-to phrases and schema-accessibly organized either to be read straight through or quickly as a ready-reference as needed-NPAP provides new academic leaders perspective on, and suggested solutions to, the standard hurdles: myriad demands-Touch it Once; passive teachers-Stoking the Fire; addressing implicit bias and interrupting racism-Keep Picturing the Kids; or, modeling leadership-Be Present.