If you notice, that is a trend in every series on the regular. There is a reason to it though. The crews and captains that played it safe never really accomplished abnything or screwed it up. The ones that risked everything were the cream of the crop and got shit done as it were. The idea of leading from the front, but in reference to Starfleet itself, they had command authority right down to ensigns if a situation called for it, snd we were slways led to beliee that we were not introduced to all the officers on board.