You have to realize what your skills, strengths and abilities are and balance them to some extent with what you enjoy doing on a daily basis.  In the end I doubt you can say either is a superior way of operating.  Personally, I can't imagine being removed entirely from fields operations 365 days per year.  I would like to think my skills at some of those task and being in the field gives our farm a completive edge.  But,  it also doesn't make sense for me to spend 14 hrs a day on a tractor, every day of the year  at the expense of making poor financial decisions, poor production decisions or eliminating contact with lenders, landowners, suppliers, or commodity buyers when I can pay someone $14/hr  to perform that task for me.  There are many successful farms operating across the nation  at  smaller and larger scales where the owner operates entirely in a CFO or Controller capacity.  I know of and have seen many of them.  Their skill  lies in hiring quality people to manage on the ground and keeping everyone coordinated and moving in the right direction.  Some of them would be top notch equipment operators, some wouldn't even know how to start the darn thing, but most of them are good farmers.