[philipov]

"if a critical mass of the people you need to work with at your project refuse to do so, it doesn't so much matter how you're "handling" the project"

If a critical mass of people refuse to work with you, that is itself a mishandling of the project. Getting people to work with you is one of the most important responsibilities of a leader.

[einpoklum]

Maybe they refuse to work with you because - for example - it's a religiously-conservative society and you have been outed as a homosexual?

Also - you're right that this is an important characteristic, but if there is active outside pressure to get people to _not_ work with you, that should not be ignored when evaluating someone's ability to lead.