I don't agree with it. You can recognize good leadership skills and not be a good leader yourself.
Discussion
Does leading itself, or the target we lead to matters?
Can there be a person with good leadership skills leading people to bad times?
Does only leadership skills matter?
Don't might say that if you're leading to bad times then that you're not a good leader.
True, I didn't define properly what I mean with bad times.
But if what you say is true, shouldn't it mean we have to have good leaders now, because people can see what a good leader is without being one?
I think the skills are separable from the direction. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pot, etc. Were (at least for a time) excellent leaders. But, they led to death and destruction. Direction matters.
I agree! Therefore I would say, it is not enough to understand if someone is a good leader or not to be able to select a leader.
This could somehow point to the direction that many people can't see the forest from the tree, which could lead to bad leader selection.