"Leadership is a repeatable skill, not an art." - Jim Barksdale

Over 26 years ago, I attended a leadership session at Netscape, run by Jim Barksdale. It was a single hour that profoundly impacted my career. I regularly revisit the notes from that meeting and am grateful I have them. Unfortunately, I can't recall who took these and shared them afterward, but I believe it was Martina Lauchengco .

Jim made it a point to differentiate leaders from managers. He stressed that not all managers are good leaders. Here are raw notes of Jim's breakdown of the most important qualities of effective leaders:

• Judgment.?Logically weighing the facts to make a decision. Make sure you're technically qualified to decide.
• Bearing.?It's a bit old-fashioned but favorable carriage and appearance, self-assured and controlled, showing flashes of humor and dignity.
• Decisiveness.?Make decisions fast, bearing in mind the following guidelines:? 1) Never make a decision you don't have to make? 2) No decision is also a decision. "if you see a snake, kill it; don't play with dead snakes, all opportunities start out looking like snakes."
• Initiative. Do it now; you are the catalyst for action. The best leaders are those going 900 mph and looking like they are walking.
• Unselfishness.?Help people out; be willing to pitch in when someone else needs it.
• Loyalty.?Self-explanatory.
• Integrity.?Honesty, endurance. On the latter, control your pace and rhythm; proving you can work long-term is more important than proving you can work 100 hrs/per week. Take good care of your physical health.
• Tact. Courtesy.?Treating people the way you want to be treated.
• Courage.?Fearlessness to accept criticism of yourself, take action, and make things better; always try to do better.
• Knowledge.?Know your stuff.
• Enthusiasm.?Go after it and enjoy what you're doing; remember that attitude is a performance problem.
• Dependability.?If you're not dependable, it suggests that others around you aren't important enough. Not being dependable also suggests arrogance.
• Justice.?Know the argument. Don't play favorites when it comes to justice; favoritism is one of the most debilitating attributes in a workplace.

Jim's framing of leadership as a developable skill gave me the confidence that I might be able to develop these qualities over time -- as long as I dared to accept criticism and had the drive to do better. I'm still working on it 26 years later.