Are you an accidental dictator? The smart person leadership trap…and how to avoid it

Smart people are at risk of becoming accidental dictators. Why? Because smart people make smart decisions they are given increased responsibility. Such success feels good, and they continue on the path of being the center of sound decision-making. However, over time, they are at risk of training their direct reports to come to them, as the smart person, to make all decisions. As they ascend the hierarchy, their growing confidence and power can lead to over-reliance on their own judgement. This diminishes their receptivity to input from others, reducing the incorporation of diverse perspectives in decision making. Ultimately, they can bounce up against their decision-making capacity and become frustrated with their direct reports, wondering why others are incompetent or unmotivated. Often their response is to work even harder and begin to use intimidation to get results. When leaders cross this threshold, they have become accidental dictators. Below, we examine a vivid example, from our consulting, of one such accidental dictator, to illuminate the insidious nature of the process. Importantly, we also identify risk factors and highlight ways to short circuit the slide into accidental dictatorship. Ultimately, we illustrate how this executive extracted herself from being an accidental dictator and provide promising avenues of action for avoiding this smart person leadership trap.