Effective leadership and increasing diversity are central concerns in the library profession. Using qualitative interviewing and research methods, this study identifies the attributes, knowledge, and skills that African American women need in order to be successful leaders in today's Association of Research Libraries (ARL). These findings indicate that, although African American women do not need different skills sets than non-minority library directors to be successful, they may need additional attributes or more of certain attributes to overcome stereotypes and successfully navigate predominantly White academic research library environments. (Contains 3 tables and 30 notes.)