My personal opinion on Tom's comment about corporate America's biggest problem is how to manage leaders, is that THAT is the problem. Corporate America WANTS to manage its leaders, not all managers are leaders, and not all leaders are managers. It's shooting yourself in the foot.
Often times the best leaders are restricted, and unable to lead in the best way, due to policy and other stupid things. Companies have to set up safety nets for when a crappy wannabe leader tries to do something stupid and makes a HUGE, VERY COSTLY mistake. But those safety nets are holding back the REAL leaders. Corporate America has difficulty DISCERNING which leaders can be trusted and which ones can't. And so they have to be careful. And lower level managers, who are not always leaders, can often have a negative impact on business. Also, the leaders that AREN'T managers are often restricted by the managers who AREN'T leaders because the wannabe leaders are afraid of being ousted by the REAL leaders.
My personal experience with Corporate America involves high level "management" like CEOs & CIOs, Presidents & VPs, down to lower team management at a lower level. The higher level management (at the very top) is usually made up of "natural" leaders. Lower management is made up of people wanting to climb the corporate ladder. As they move up, the wannabes are slowly weeded out. (Often times not quickly enough to suit their teams.)
My personal experience is varied but the majority is in network implementation, and involved matrix management. The problem with matrix management, is you only have control over a small part. You are relying on other people, who don't report to you, and have no allegiance to you, to complete their part of the job, so that the entire project can be completed. It also involves other companies, who really couldn't give a crap if you have a deadline.
So that's where "leadership" comes in. If you can accomplish your goal, while fighting so many uphill battles, then you have engaged your SKILLS as a leader, combined with your INNATE leadership qualities.
The problem I had was burnout. It stressed me out so badly. The pressure of it all, combined with some things that even the best leader couldn't fix. Sometimes natural events happen. Like hurricane Katrina. And it screws everything up. There's nothing you can do about it, but it's costing your customer millions of dollars every day.
I would much rather be on a team, and have someone else responsible. I don't WANT to lead. I don't want to be a manager. When I was leaving one of my biggest customers, the CIO told me he would hire me and my husband and we could name our salaries, if we would just stay there. And he was completely serious. (And yes, I'm kicking myself for not doing that now.) But it wasn't enjoyable to me.
So now I just get stuck with odd things, cuz it seems that's just how it works out. I try to keep quiet. People find out you have leadership experience, and they start calling you for EVERYTHING. But I've really enjoyed this thread and hope Tom answers your questions.