A leader the people must have. The state of the human race is such that the vast majority of all people will always be passive until roused to action by someone with a more powerful spirit than theirs. There is no kingdom without a king, there is not even a republic without a president. Even assemblies with no fixed positions have, by influence, their chief men informally, because there is no case where the talent of bringing others into action is distributed equally.
To take the negative perspective, even more than positive virtue guiding a good ruler, it is trivial to note that a bad ruler who gives a poor example will inevitably cause destruction, corruption, and rot in an organization. In my private life I am an accountant, and when one is taught to perform financial audits and consider a company’s internal fraud risk, one of the key items one looks for is the ‘Tone at the Top.’ Is the boss a lush? Is he abrasive? Is he honest? Does he pass blame? Even in the dilute systems of government and leadership present in our society it is the visible top of a system which receives our greatest attention because the head of a corporate body commands a spiritual influence on the rest before even entering into any question of explicit command.
https://ulrichkessler.substack.com/p/comments-on-book-ii-of-the-analects