Not all teams are managed in the same manner.
Teams can have leaders who are hierarchically from the same level as its members, or who are from higher levels.
Hierarchical teams are, for instance, the previously mentioned executive teams - led by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – and the marketing team that is managed by the marketing manager. Production teams can have leaders who are from a hierarchically higher level, but there are also examples of production teams whose leader is from the same level. There are also teams that have no appointed leader – these so-called self-managing teams are increasingly popular in many organizations nowadays.
Many engineers who want to learn about leadership have just been - or will be soon - appointed as leader of a (temporary) project team.