Is our concept of strong leadership wrong?

When we say, "Lead from the front," we aren't necessarily being literal. Leading from the front is more often than not about leading by example. Lead with your actions and not your words...or more appropriately...lead with both at the same time. Physically, leading from the front is a great way to make sure that you are incapable of making rational and informed decisions...and possibly results in the first casualty being the leader of the formation. This differs by level of command. I would expect a Lieutenant to lead from the front more often than I would a Major General. Different responsibilities PHYSICALLY. I would expect them both to lead from the front by example, policy and general leadership attributes. It has changed with time as well. Back when "operations" first came to be (the combination of engagements and battles to form a larger operation to achieve strategic end states) in the Civil War, leaders up to the level of Brigadier General had to physically lead from the front next to their colors to guide the formation and receive information. Even then though, Major Generals and Lieutenant Generals were no longer leading from the front of their formations. Today, the heart of information is at the Headquarters. Once again, this differs the higher you go. Technically a 4-star general could command forces from the United States...anywhere in the world. All that being said, it's their actions and their policy that should portray a, "Lead from the front," philosophy.

The idea of leading from the front is very desirable up to a point. Above a certain level the person needs to be able to see the big picture and that is hard to do in many cases if you are walking point on patrol.

English is hard.

Rumsfeld led from the front and we got burnt. I would rather have a person know some history before making it.

There's different levels of leadership. But leading from the front doesn't have to be applied so deliberately as a verb. It is mostly used in the context of saying that if no one will then the leader will. I.e. Youre on a team doing whatever and someone needs to make decisions. Who's going to to do it. Someone has to. That person lead by making the decision.