In your opinion what factors contribute towards good leadership?

I was having some issues fall of 1989 as I was starting JROTC and my NCOIC said exactly what you just posted. Thirty years later it is still part of my gospel.

This is not talked about often enough. Following is the training ground for leading.

This is great. Lead from the front...

The problem is the higher you go up the ladder, the less opportunity to lead from the front. As a company leader (Officer or Enlisted) has to be behind the troops to organize all aspects of the battle. You can see very little of the overall situation from the front.

^this
not forgetting what life is like in those subordinate ranks, knowing that those subordinates make the leader a success or a failure

CW2 (Join to see) - I promised myself that if/when I ever made it to the NCO ranks that I would never forget where I came from. Yes, I have to have a different type of mentality since I'm now in the leadership role, but I will never forget that I was once a junior troop. Had way too many leaders that forgot.

Abso-friggen-lutely

I always told my subordinates that they did not work for me but worked with me. Though once as a young 1st Lieutenant S-2, my Master Sergeant Intel NCO called me aside as we were setting up the Intel TOC and digging the simple defensive firing positions. He explained that putting up the TOC and digging the foxholes was enlisted man work, at the most I should supervise, though that was actually his job. Like a smart young officer I learned from my sergeant who had 26 years service to my six.