I don't think listening to players' feedback and changing is a particularly bad sign of leadership, like. Not saying he's a good leader but that's hardly bad, imo. If he carried on playing in a way that players were admitting to feeling uncomfortable in that would be far worse.
But it does suggest that he doesn't really know how to operate in the premier league today.
How so? There's not one uniform style to playing football in the league.
It's not about style though, a manager's job is to assess his squad and get them playing the most effective football to suit their abilities. That McClaren needs his players to do that for him doesn't say much for his own managerial quality.
But surely by listening to the players he's doing just that?