Global City School Leaders provides a new and innovative approach to understanding the policy and practice of urban educational leadership. Building on generational, global city, and educational leadership theory, the book draws on evidence from a three-year study of under-40-year-old (Generation X) principals and vice-principals in London, New York City and Toronto. In support of a truly comparative look at the new generation of leaders, the first two sections of Global City School Leaders set out a detailed strategy for developing rich profiles of the policy and practice realities of school leaders. A comprehensive profile of the city-based policy trajectories and current structure supporting the recruitment, development, and retention of school leaders serves as the foundation for an in-depth analysis of major themes emerging for the new generation of leaders. These include evolving career trajectories, professional learning, shoulder-tapping, opportunities and challenges of being a young leader, leading school improvement as well as the the important retention-related question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. In the final section, Karen Edge presents a ground-breaking examination of how the policies and practices shape the work of school leaders and the overall leadership pipeline. More specifically, she looks at how the following factors influence the lives and careers of school leaders: career decentralisation, the strength of the middle tier, school-level autonomy, accountability, marketisation of education support and the ambition for school-level success. She explores how the wider social policies influence the careers of leaders including health care, pensions and maternity/paternity leave. In conclusion, the author shares several recommendations for policy and practice leaders to create the conditions that will positively influence the leadership and longevity of the new generation of school leaders.