I read two articles recently which fit together nicely in my mind and, taken together, had some important observations about the tie between independent thinking and leadership. I'll link both articles at the end of this thread.

In 2010, @WilliamDeresiew (WD) wrote Solitude and Leadership in The American Scholar.

More recently, @paulg (PG) wrote "How to Think for Yourself".

It is from these texts that the following excerpts are taken. Both are worth reading in their entirety.

First, an opinion about our educational system with which I happen to agree:

[S]chools generally ignore independent-mindedness, except to the extent they try to suppress it. -PG

WD provides some helpful definitions:

Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a body of information, however much those may sometimes be useful. Developing your own ideas. -WD

[L]eadership means being able to think for yourself and act on your convictions...he is able to think things through for himself. And because he can, he has the confidence, the courage, to argue for his ideas even when they aren’t popular.

Connecting the two authors' statements, independent thinking isn't taught in schools and is essential for leadership. So, how does one develop the capacity for independent thinking? Both authors provide suggestions...

[S]olitude...introspection...the concentration of focused work...sustained reading...friendship...I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person. -WD

[B]e less aware what conventional beliefs are.

[H]ave one or two [independent-minded people] you can talk to regularly. -PG

When [you] meet someone who knows a lot about something unusual (which includes practically everyone, if you dig deep enough)...try to learn what they know that other people don't. -PG

You can expand the source of influences in time as well as space, by reading history. When I read history I do it not just to learn what happened, but to try to get inside the heads of people who lived in the past. -PG

The most general is to cultivate an attitude of skepticism. When you hear someone say something, stop and ask yourself "Is that true?" -PG

And, finally:

[W]e need to look at the internal structure of independent-mindedness at the individual muscles we need to exercise, as it were. It seems to me that it has three components:

Fastidiousness about truth

Resistance to being told what to think

and Curiosity. -PG

Here are the article links:

https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/

http://paulgraham.com/think.html