In the army I found myself in leadership positions lots of times, but always for short periods of time focusing around a specific task.
I was the most experienced (and smartest, to be honest) person in my commanders course, and I could always see the most efficient way to get any task done, so I naturally took control of my crew whenever there was work to be done (even my commander, he would literally come and ask me what he should do). I was the "guru" they say INTPs are in their fields, everyone thought it was because I had all this experience, but it was really just because I was smarter than everyone around me. Leadership is all about motivation I think - no one can lead if they don't want to. My motivation for leadership, at least in the army was always laziness; I just wanted to get it over with as fast as possible, and I saw everyone else as incompetent.
I also have a sort of ISTP streak when I'm working, and I was an artilleryman, which is really just a glorified mechanic
so I was really really good at my job. I'm also physically very strong, which I guess projects more dominance or something like that.
My strengths as a leader - I can vividly visualize the most efficient way to get anything done, and the ways to increase efficiency in systems. People tend to look up to me as the all-knowing-guru. I lead by example, I usually do around 70-80% of the work myself, mainly because I just don't trust anyone else to do anything as good or as fast as I know I could. I don't look for any social dominance, so I usually don't have anyone competing with me, because they know I just don't care. I'm a good teacher, so I was always teaching people how to do their jobs better, I think if I had a few more months with my crew I could have turned them into a truly amazing crew.
My weaknesses - I hardly trust anyone, I sometimes over-micromanage, I'm terrible with time schedules (I always get the job done best, but never on time). I have no social skills, so my status depends entirely on my standing as
the expert.
I'm not too good with people, when I'm in work mode I just see them as tools. Stupid, incompetent, inefficient tools.
Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration (just a tiny bit, mind you), but with time I learn how to coordinate everyone in the most efficient way.
Anyways that was a long time ago, I think I've become much better with people since then. I've consciously been working on improving my social skills, I think I would make a much better leader today.
But alas, I finished my army service two days ago (
) and now the only thing I need to care about or lead is myself! YAY FREEDOM!!!!