This study examines the lived experiences of educational leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has often pointed to the role of educational leadership and its relationship to the quality and well-being of a school’s culture and climate. Recently the coronavirus has created a crisis on a magnitude the world has never seen that has globally altered human interactions and created an educational new normal. Literature is quickly seeking to examine the impact on education, and while much of its effect is yet to be seen, this study advances the understanding of crisis leadership, distinct from crisis management, during the pandemic. The findings reveal leadership lessons connecting to paradoxes identified through the themes: communication, care, decision-making, trauma and stress, coping and well-being, growth, and new normal
