I think so too - and yet we have an entire culture and entire social system that is predicated on exactly that - where the "toughest" and the "most ruthless" is viewed as being in possession of leadership skills. CEOs have a much higher level of sociopathic/psychopathic traits than the general population for this reason.
And that is my issue with this social system in a nutshell, as already noted. Look at every action blockbuster ever made - the hero prevails by being the toughest, the most badass, and sometimes this entails some brains, but mostly not. The situation is never resolved by outthinking the villain and changing the conflict that way. It is never resolved by demonstrating empathy and cooperation. The hero leads by being the most dominant - because it's a dominance hierarchy!!
You say that leading through coercion would be self-defeating but unfortunately, that's not what the actual evidence indicates. I mean, to some extent, it is less effective, and drives down worker morale, and such, but that doesn't mean that it isn't still the dominant method of management. I've studied all of this and have research to back it up. I'm not just arguing with you to be argumentative - I'm presenting what the actual evidence demonstrates. But, I can't make you believe it - I can only lead the horse to the water - where hopefully his brain will cool off enough to realize that what I'm saying is not so foreign or off base.
