Never ask your followers to do things you are not willing to do yourself. Don't delegate all of the unwanted and un-fun tasks off on someone else. Be willing to pitch in and help out with the dirty work. Stay later than everyone else, get there earlier. Lead by doing. I am blessed to work with leaders who are turning on the lights in the morning and turning them off in the evening. They work harder and longer than anyone else. That sets the bar pretty high for me as a follower. I can never take it too easy. I can never pass on menial jobs. My leaders are doing the nitty-gritty, so I better get my hands dirty as well.
As a leader that doesn't mean that you should never delegate or never pass off tough jobs. Make sure you are spending your time doing things that only you can do. But at least every once in awhile pitch in after the meeting to tear down tables and chairs, clean up the gym after practice, sweep the floor if someone left it a mess. When I see my boss cleaning or setting something up, it sends a very clear message to me: No one is above anyone or anything around here. Get to work to accomplish the mission.
That example of "whatever it takes, for as long as it takes" is a very powerful message to send to your followers. Also, just being present with the ones you lead, performing manual labor, or some other task, allows you to get to know them better. It teaches your followers that you value them and gives you great time to pour into their lives and allows you to learn from them. The times that there is real honest to goodness hard work to be done are times that a leader can find out what type of staff they have. Hard work reveals character. The leaders and the followers.
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