I've heard it said before, "A leader who keeps everyone at arms length never accomplishes the maximum". Jesus spoke and ministered to the crowd, but he invested his life and gave himself to a small core of his followers; the disciples (Apostles). They were the ones who received the maximum investment of his life. They were the ones who produced the maximum return for the Kingdom of God. Even within the disciples, Jesus had a smaller circle; Peter, James and John. These three heard words of Jesus and shared experiences with Jesus (i.e. the transfiguration), that the rest of the twelve did not. 

As a wise leader follows THE Leader, they will spend more and more of their time developing these two core circles, realizing that the core can make an even greater impact on the crowd than one person ever can. So, if you're a leader, who makes up the core group that you are spending the majority of you time investing your life in today? How big is your core? Are you developing an even smaller group within your core with whom you share it all? How are you intentionally and strategically developing those in your core so that they make a greater impact on the crowd?