Your article reminds me of Jennifer V. Miller's e-book, "Why is it so hard to shut up?" I think we often make leadership extremely complicated.

The reality is that the greatest leaders have always been philosophers and theologians. Those who thought deeply and grappled with the reality of the human condition. They asked the hard questions about integrity and meaning. Because of that, they became leaders through a process of evolution and transformation rather than mass production and fabrication. Their leadership was born out of vision rather than mere pragmatism.

Listening is a difficult art with which many, including myself, struggle. As Simon Sinek said, "There is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to speak."