Do you lead in the fray or above it?  Do you know how to tell?

Leaders inside the fray see problems everywhere.  These problems can often be overwhelming.  If you lead within the fray, you love being at the center of the action.  You see problems and identify simple solutions that can be implemented quickly.  Once you see how the quick solution impacts the problem, you can make another quick decision in response.  In the face of many problems you may be tempted to spin quickly from one problem to the next making small impacts on them all.  The other temptation will be to attack only one problem ignoring all others.  Most likely when a problem becomes increasingly complex it becomes increasingly stressful.  When the true solution proves to be multi-faceted, the problem can feel increasingly hopeless.  Resolution will be judged not on achievement, but based on the next action.  If another action is planned, the problem is not resolved.  If no other ideas remain for improvement, it is finished.  When you find a good tool for resolution, you will likely go to it over and over again whenever possible preferring a finite set of similar tools that you wield expertly. Continuing the chess analogy from the previous post, you will likely focus on tactics to capture individual pieces.  You will see mate when it is a couple of moves away.

Leaders above the fray see problems everywhere.  These problems can often be overwhelming.  The difference comes from how you approach solutions.  You will see the connectedness of the problems. The actual solution will look like a crafting of multiple solutions.  You will see a sequence of actions both big and small that must be made.  Some will take quite a while to show their true impact, but you will have the patience to see them through.  As impacts are made, the planned sequence of actions will evolve.  This may make it feel like the direction is shifting, but it will be slight.  Since solutions appear to be a set of actions, it makes it really hard to call a project finished or problem resolved because there are more things to do.  The only way problems will feel resolved is if you set an objective to achieve and once reached, the sequence can be stopped.  The variation between tools will be greater, using each different one at different times based on its individual merits.  No single one will be a specific go to, nor will they all, if any, be mastered fully.  In Chess, I would think you would prefer strategic, planned openings where you are willing to stick with system even if your opponent does something unexpected because you believe in the merits of the system itself.  You are more likely to see mate when it is further out or even ignore tactical advantages provided by taking key pieces in order to pursue the eventual goal of checkmate.