Lafayette was a major general in the American revolution at 19, he had plenty of leadership skills in his 20’s. Not saying it’s _common_ but historically it seems at least possible.
Often at companies (And I presume in other situations as well), people are thrust into higher level positions purely because they happened to be in the right place at the right time and someone above them left.
Too many people/companies claiming to be "world class" or whatever when they are above average at best.
I have no knowledge of Lafayette (Not American) and no context or understanding what he did, so my default judgement is that his skill is exaggerated.
It's worth noting he had been trained in a French military academy for officers since 11, and was commissioned as an officer in the French Musketeers at 14.
Additionally he was extremely well connected in the French nobility and clearly had the expectation that men would follow him.
As for his leadership capabilities, Washington cited him in a letter to congress when he was still officially an adviser for rallying US troops during a retreat after being shot in the leg. His record is pretty good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_...