There is nothing wrong with dictatorship as long as you are the dictator.

I find dictatorships fascinating. One person rallies the nation behind them and rises as their leader having absolute power. These autocrats are magnanimous and have charisma. Their words stir the masses who worship them as nothing short of a God and a savior. These dictators rule with an iron fist, but underneath, things are more volatile than they appear.

Dictatorships function with the premise that one person’s opinion matters above all else. No one can challenge the decision of the autocrat. Dictators enjoy a sense of grandeur and control. They cannot handle losing, being let down or being wrong. They hate being challenged and contradicted. They are afraid of the wisdom of crowds. They alone are the wisest of them all.

The Wisdom of Crowds

The wisdom of crowds posits that any individual’s knowledge will be minimal and deeply flawed compared to the collective wisdom of thousands of people. If you collect the opinions of thousands of people and take an average, you will find it to be more accurate and productive than any person in the same crowd.

That is why democracy works. It is a tedious governance system and super slow compared to a dictatorship. Democracy sometimes sucks because no one individual or group gets everything they want when you take everyone’s opinion. Everyone compromises on something else or the other. No one is pleased, and no one is completely distraught. In the long run, crowds’ wisdom wins and produces a robust social order.

Compare that to a dictatorship where some people get everything they want at the expense of other groups. It’s all or nothing. Autocratic systems rest on fragile foundations. They are the culmination of one man’s vision for the future, which cannot account for the collective well-being of all concerned. A single individual can’t think of everything and everyone. Dictators are afraid of the wisdom of crowds.

The Autocrats’ Psychology

People who seize power know that they can lose it at any instant. They understand that somewhere, someone is gunning for their position. This insecurity breeds paranoia and the urge to control everything around them. It makes dictators afraid. Dictators are afraid of being neglected, wronged, dismissed, punished and losing everything. The fear evolves into a psychological weakness that drives narcissism, fanaticism, radicalism and extremism.

In the Netflix docuseries titled “How to Become a Tyrant”, there are accounts of numerous instances wherein dictators have gone to extreme lengths to maintain a tight hold on their regime. These measures include but aren’t limited to propaganda, mass surveillance, oppression and suspension of civil liberties.

Autocratic Leaders in Business

While I would love to talk geopolitics, the concept of the wisdom of crowds applies in other places. The autocratic leadership style is not limited to politics but is also prevalent in business. Such leaders exhibit similar traits in different ways.

• Autocratic leaders face trouble trusting people.
• They let gossip and rumors affect their judgment.
• They treat people based on their personal feelings about an individual.
• There is no room for challenging the ideas of an autocratic leader.
• There is no opportunity to speak freely, and everyone must follow orders to the letter.

Sometimes, a dictatorial regime is more effective than a democratic one. Such situations are few and far between. Usually, this happens when we need to make quick decisions, such as in an emergency. The wisdom of crowds hardly fails under normal circumstances; it produces excellent results and is highly reliable. It hardly bodes well to put your trust in one person. Even monarchs have advisors and councilors in their courts.

The one instance that comes to mind is when the Roman Republic granted absolute power to Julius Caesar. The Republic was struggling, and he was able to turn things around. But such is the allure of power. He was intoxicated and drunk on power. He refused to give up control and became dictator in perpetuity one month before his assassination.

The lesson here is that the wisdom of crowds prevails every time. If the majority of people collectively decide something, it will happen eventually.