It's inevitable-if you're honorable. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. If this were a litmus test, the majority of CEOs would fail. One, they build so many barriers to upward communication that the very idea of someone lower in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous. Two, the corporate culture they foster often defines asking for help as weakness or failure, so people cover up their gaps, and the organization suffers accordingly.
Real leaders make themselves accessible and available.
Accordingly, they are more likely to create an environment where problem analysis replaces blame. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world. Small companies and startups don't have time for analytically detached experts. They don't have the money to subsidize lofty elites, either.