Ruler and Leader

Though 'ruler' and 'leader' are sometimes used interchangeably, there is one important distinction between them.  While the ruler-ruled relation is synchronic, that of leader-follower is diachronic, i. e. to 'lead' is to 'go first'.  Thus, the Ideal Ruler does not entail change, while the Ideal Leader does.  Accordingly, the object of the vision of the Ideal Leader is not the Idea of the Good, but the Idea of the Better, relative to the status quo.  So, not only is the significance of Leadership not taken into account by Plato, whose Republic is static, but by Marx, as well, who does recognize the historicity of Political Philosophy, but fails to appreciate the essentiality of Leaders in the revolutionary process.