User blog comment:PyroNacht/Leaders and Admins: There's A Difference/@comment-24258073-20170519044557

Yes. It's a common misconception to assume that being an admin automatically entitles a user to leadership, and not being an admin automatically entitles the reverse.

I for one remember certain users treating me like a leader on a certain wiki that I work on, long before I became an admin there.

Of course while I was a non-admin, there were certain areas that I couldn't excel in, but that did not necessarily mean that I couldn't be a leader.