The article presents an interview with Bob Knowling, the CEO and teacher-in-chief of the NYC Leadership Academy. Knowling has opened his books, his classrooms, and his leadership philosophy to a tough, skeptical, and often hostile press. In this interview Knowling describes life on the front lines of educational reform and shares his personal formula for leadership development. Knowling remarks that when he came in, the Academy was a blank piece of paper. The organization's mission and vision is to serve as a lever of change for this chancellor and to provide the system with principals with a strong grounding in instructional and transformational leadership who can make a difference for children.