Great leadership is not about having the best technical skills in the subject of the business you are in.  In fact, we all know  many people that were promoted into leadership positions because they were the best scientist, best electrician or best engineer in the group, but quickly found out that they really didn't have the aptitude or attitude to lead others.  Organizations and businesses make this mistake all the time; they think because someone has great technical skills or subject matter expertise that they must be a good leader.  And far too often organizations see a promotion to a leadership position as  reward bestowed upon someone for being really good at their technical job.  But we all know that leadership is much bigger than simply domain knowledge or excellence.  

Some researchers and experts would suggest that domain knowledge and expertise only accounts for about 20% of the characteristics needed to be a good leader.  Other traits that are important and make up the other 80% of a good leader include: presence/confidence/gravitas, curiosity, enthusiasm, and empathy/emotional intelligence.  Whether you fully agree with these specific labels or categories, you can agree that leadership is far beyond simply having solid technical skills and knowledge in the subject of the specific business.  While it is is important to have these skills, the non-technical skills is what makes a leader.

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.  Woodrow Wilson

The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.  Ronald Reagan

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.  John Kenneth Galbraith

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.  John Buchan