Themes
You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.
— Dwight David Eisenhower
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The speaker rejects a confusion between leadership and physical coercion. Hitting people does not become leadership simply because someone uses it to direct them; it remains assault. The plain correction strips force of a respectable label and questions the authority claimed for that behaviour.
Context reviewed