El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
Lazylord: "Hey, fighter. You can totally hit that monster twice as many times within 6 seconds as you thought."
Fighter: "Weird. I guess I'm clearly capable of it. Why wasn't I able to do that yesterday when you weren't around? You must know a lot more about sword fighting than I. Get up here and do it too."
Lazylord: "I can't. I'm pretty lame at it, actually. I can only tell others how to do it. Here, let me tell you how awesome you are so your wounds won't hurt as much."
Fighter: "But I am clearly not as awesome as I thought. At least not unless you are around telling me how to swing my sword. So you are the one who is truly awesome it would seem."
If this is the way you see things, could you explain to me your thoughts on Synergy? What are your thoughts on Leadership?
To me (and by definition), Synergy is the idea that when people work together, they can be greater than the sum of their parts.
Or do you disagree with that? Do you disagree with the very existence of Synergy?
(Conversely a group can also be significantly less than the sum of their parts - but that's another discussion entirely.)
Extending the concept to D&D: 5 adventurers, working together, can accomplish more than the sum of what they can accomplish individually - if they can either find that synergy themselves, or have a catalyst for it.
Are they now better because their compatriots are suddenly telling them how to be better? No.
Are they now suddenly able to swing a sword better, move faster, do more in the same amount of time? Yes.
That's Synergy.
They find the time in the little moments between actions. They give advice, warnings, and exclamations that give each other an extra degree of perception and insight - that kick them into a whole other gear.
When you add a Warlord, they become the catalyst for inspiring that potential synergy - a catalyst that makes the occurrence of synergy far more likely than without it.
That's what Inspirational Leadership does. It creates a synergy between Leader and Ally.
That may seem hokey to you, but it's true. This is something I've seen - and done - firsthand. I don't know what experience you have with leadership - either being a leader or observing/following a leader - but I'm a retired military NCO. I have twenty-one years in the military, and seventeen of those as various ranks of Sergeant.
I know a thing or two about Leadership, including Leadership under fire.
I can attest that it's most certainly a real thing.
Back to the coach analogy:
Does a coach suddenly make a player capable of doing things they couldn't do before? No.
Does a coach make a player better than they were before? A good coach: Absolutely Yes.
Otherwise, what's the point of having a coach? What's the point of having Sergeants, Officers, or any other Leader?
Now to be honest, I don't exactly like the 4E Warlord either, but that's more about me not being a fan of 4E. But even in 4E, the Warlord couldn't force an Ally to do something they didn't want to do; they did however inspire that extra gear of activity - just like a real-world Leader.