This is a blog post on Islamic Leadership I co-authored with Omar Usman (AKA Ibn Abee Omar). You can read the full article here.
The various hadith we find pertaining to leadership in Islam are more petrifying than they are encouraging. This fear may sometimes push the right people away. Leadership from an Islamic perspective requires at least four characteristics:
Sincerity
Required knowledge for the position
The ability to influence and persuade.
A personality that is not easily swayed (fickle).
If those that have religious grounding and God consciousness keep avoiding positions of leadership in our community, the leadership conundrum will never resolve itself.
Leadership requires questioning your intentions, being in the service of the people you lead, and continuing to grow your skill set. Abu Bakr (ra) did not feel ready for the position he was walking into, but what a formidable leader he was when he passed away.