As an administrator of this forum, part of my job is acting as a leader for both the staff and forum members. I do my best to make sure that the forum rules are upheld, that the atmosphere here is of a standard that Tweak and I both find acceptable, fix problems, make sure the staff is doing what they're supposed to do, and do my part to contribute to the betterment of the forum. While this is part of my job, I still want to have fun and take part in the forum myself, and it's not always easy to have to tell people what to do all the time. I'm also forced to make judgment calls about what is or isn't okay all the time.
Now, I know this is just an online thing that's for fun, but it does have a lot of similarities to what you're talking about, so I'm using it as an example.
Someone is always going to have to be making the judgment calls. If it wasn't you, it would be someone else. And when making these kind of judgment calls, all you can do is weigh your options, think about the possible outcomes, and decide which will be the more respectable, honest, or right thing to do (depending on the situation). Then hope for the best. If it's a particularly tricky situation, consider consulting someone else to weigh in another opinion as well, be it anyone above or below you. I don't know exactly how it works of course, but I can't imagine that just because you're ranked above other people doesn't mean you can't ask for their opinion. It can also show that you care about or respect what those below you think.
It's not always necessary to be a "pain-in-the-butt" leader to get things done. Rather than describing a leader as "strict, yet compassionate," I say it's more like "strict, but fair." Do your job, and do it well, and people will come to respect you. Telling people what to do doesn't require you to be a jerk about it either. They don't always like it, but be firm and assert your authority when it is necessary.
I hold myself to these standards when I work as an admin, and things work out well enough. I'm not perfect, but I try to do what I can and stick to my standards. I've heard multiple people complain about me being strict, as well as multiple comments that I'm firm, but fair. People don't always like me and aren't always happy with me because I tell them what to do when I need to, but such is the nature of the beast. If I was the kind of person to encourage people to just do "whatever", the rules would be broken and abused, people would be even unhappier because they wouldn't receive the kind of staff attention the way they do now, trolls and spam would be everywhere, and the forum would be so disorganized you wouldn't be able to find anything.
I'm quite happy with the way this forum is run. When Tweak and I do our jobs, it allows the moderators to do their jobs. When the moderators do their jobs, it allows the forum to stay in proper shape, in order, and easy to use. There will always be people who feel a need to butt heads with authority, but do what you need to do, and you should be fine.
Long answer is long.
Topic: What Makes a Leader? (Read 1087 times)