The findings of these reports are based on an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant research project which aims to improve leadership preparation and development for school principals to help them manage complex emotional workload demands. The project expects to generate new knowledge about principal workforce development and to create a framework for policymakers that identifies the knowledge and practices required to develop leaders’ emotional skills and build bridges across diverse communities. Anticipated benefits include reduced principal turnover, improved teacher retention, improved student outcomes and greater social cohesion. Drawing on 298 critical incident testimonies from 256 principals, as well as stakeholder interviews, case studies and a policy audit, the study reveals how principals’ emotional labour - often invisible and unacknowledged - has intensified and become central to their role. The research highlights the toll this labour takes on principals’ health, wellbeing and professional sustainability and calls for systemic reform to acknowledge and better support the emotional demands of the principals’ role.