This paper recounts the success story of a school in the suburbs of Stockholm, which describes a trajectory of development from being threatened by abandon and closing by the municipal authorities in the late 80s to being rewarded and celebrated as one of the best schools in Sweden about 15 years later. The radical transformation of the schools climate and mode of action was to a large extent due to the creative initiatives of a new headmaster, whose strong will, sound educational ideas and charismatic leadership inspired his staff to work hard for the improvement of the school. The actions undertaken and described in the paper are related to what research on good school leadership has shown to be good practice, as well as to more general ideas in educational theory. The choice of the story format is pragmatically and aesthetically motivated: we are usually more impressed by a (good) story and more inspired to let ourselves be guided by it, than by mere theoretical principles or abstractions