But it is much easier to be the general of the army then an infantry soldier. If the general dies, the army collapses and disintegrates, if an infantry soldier gets cut down in machine gun fire, he is easily replaced. The same with most employees. There is always another developer, another secretary, another salesman, etc. But especially with small companies, if there is no good CEO or Founder, the company never gets big and dies small. Never having realised their potential.
There are plenty of good CEOs and founders (just like there are plenty of people who can step up and be a General when one dies). They are not rare, they are made through experience and training. One company, a cooperative that I'm writing about now, allows employees to start their own companies within the parent company, and even sends them "CEO school" as they build it and rise through the ranks. They grow effective founders and CEOs from within.