Reflecting on a day of dangerous bushfire conditions in NSW, I recount my leadership responsibilities as a principal, highlighting the shaping force of my English teaching past in my response to certain managerial demands that I faced. I illustrate how the sense of ethical responsibility and a commitment to openness that came to define my understanding of subject English, and my programming practices and advocacy, remains with me, mediating my work and subjectivity as a school leader. I outline how, on this day, it was necessary to recognise what poet Wallace Stevens calls a 'supreme fiction' in my engagement with aspects of policy and governmentality. I contend that key aspects of English as a form of 'knowing' have much to contribute to the efficacy of school leaders.