Re: “conventional leadership positions involve little to no work or “leading” and are essentially won by popularity contests.”
While I couldn’t say how conventional leadership positions are filled, I would say that in my opinion, those positions do not have nearly the time commitment that some other activities have. And I have been pleasantly surprised that admissions officers look at leadership roles in a different light than just considering conventional leadership. For example, I would guess that the President of the Student Council would, over the course of the whole school year, put in 2 hours/ week (since some weeks there would be little or nothing to be done and other weeks would have events scheduled). The competitive dance team that my daughter was a member of required a time commitment of 25 - 35 hours/ week all through the school year (and most of the summer as well).