You made me break out my copy of the Art of War, haven't done that in a bit. When I first read the quote I thought it was a rephrasing of "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle." I'm still not sure if it is, the sentiment seems to be the same, albeit more nuanced, but I'm not worried enough about to reread the whole thing. You wouldn't happen to know which chapter your quote is from would you?
I prefer to operate solo or with small groups of people who know what they're about and don't need anyone to tell them what to do. I guess that still fits your definition of leadership, never really thought of it in those terms before. Ownership, discipline, effort, those things I've always thought of as showing initiative rather than leadership, although I suspect that they're just two sides of the same coin.
I suspect people often conflate giving orders with leadership, which might explain some of the people saying they're not leaders. There's a saying, 'before you can lead you have to learn how to follow,' I feel like that is an important part of the know thy self and a big part of what distinguishes good leadership from bad.
*Random side note, did you know that Niccolo Machiavelli (of The Prince infamy) also wrote an 'Art of War' book?
RE: Think like a leader: Week twelve