This study highlights the characteristics of an effective leadership behavior of the secondary school principals. The role of principal is very crucial in shaping the destiny of the young ones-the coming generation. Principal's leadership roles, administrative roles, innovativeness and his high value system / profile, all make him the most effective leader. Leadership's real test lays in the expertise in the three major areas viz. his decision making ability, his communication skills and his conflict resolution or problem solving abilities. But the most crucial role in making a leader most effective is played by the value-system he adopts. It is, in fact, his initiation and consideration dimensions of leadership which allot him the title of a "HH pattern" leader-the most effective one in comparison with "LL pattern";leader who is low in initiation and low in consideration dimension of leader.