Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style where a single dominant leader believes they know best and should make all decisions independently.
People who hold an autocratic leadership style do not seek input or advice from others even if others are more experienced, educated or knowledgeable about the topic. Typically, autocratic leaders require highly-structured environments, and they discourage creativity and unconventional thinking.
Autocratic leaders want complete control and demand loyalty to their vision and direction. Autocratic leaders often demand this control in the name of “efficiency”. They do this by explaining that group members slow down decision-making (whether that is accurate or not). They prioritize task-completion over collaboration. So, what is autocratic leadership? It's a "do what I tell you to do" arrangement.
An autocratic leadership style creates a cultural emphasis on chain of command, structure, rules, policies, procedures and processes. Autocratic leaders also don’t ask for feedback or don’t care about the results after they do ask for feedback.
They tend not to celebrate individual team members, rather seeing the collective organization as one unit.
How to tell if you work under autocratic leaders
When evaluating someone's leadership style, look beyond what they claim about how they lead. An autocratic leadership style is pretty easy to identify. Here are some key characteristics of autocratic leadership. If you work for (or around) an autocratic leader, you will likely see the following behaviors and attitudes.
- The management ranks are filled with “yes-men” or people who mimic and echo the leader
- The presence of threats or intimidation to foster loyalty
- Extreme or wide-spread micromanagement
- Centralized decision-making
- Buzz words like “discipline”, “accountability” and “consequences” to achieve high standards
- Command and control
Autocratic leadership is seldom well-received in the business world
In today’s business environment, autocratic leadership is not typically very well-received by employees.
It could be argued that it was never a good leadership style. However, prior generations didn’t have access to online platforms or communication mediums like social media to impact the reputation of poor organizational leadership like employees today do.
There are some specific situations that might call for autocratic leadership. For example, autocratic leadership is more common in places like the front lines of the military or crisis situations, like a bank manager dealing with a bank robbery. Some argue that autocratic leadership has its uses in places like a hospital emergency room or other environments where speed can mean actual life or death.
Yet, these scenarios don't exist in the day-to-day organizational environment of the average business.
Despite common buzz words you might here in the corporate world--think “fire drill,” “mission critical,” and “all hands-on deck,”—most organizations do not exist in true emergency environments. And taking all agency and ownership out of team members' hands is a great way to miss out on innovation and excellence.
An autocratic style squashes individual voices. Employees want to work for people who share control, power and vision. This type of inclusive leadership inspires the whole through empowerment, trust, respect and recognition of the shared strength of the team.
Organizations are increasingly moving toward leaders with transformational or collaborative leadership styles to foster engagement and adaptability and to encourage team morale and innovation.
Examples: Autocratic leadership today
It is difficult to find current senior corporate leadership defined as having an autocratic leadership style because of the negative connotation around it. This type of leadership is just much more covert than in previous generations.
However, one current example of an autocratic leader is Elon Musk. He makes whole-organization changes without input from employees. He demands control and obedience. Previous employees have often described him as requiring cult-like agreement of his ideas.1
Beyond Musk, there are examples of autocratic decision-making happening all around us, often disguised as “efficiency or innovation”. Autocratic leadership styles itself as efficient since it relies on only certain people to make decisions, which may result in quick decision making.
Autocratic leaders typically don't self-define as autocratic these days, even if it's clear from their behavior that they believe in autocratic leadership efficiency. For example, Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, recently required strict return-to-office mandates despite little to no widespread agreement on the mandate.2 Jassy spun this directive as being key to innovation, despite data and research showing that employees are more productive in remote or hybrid/flexible work arrangements.3
Jassy often explains himself as being committed to a shared vision, innovation and creating a great place for employees to live their passion. However, when decisions are made with widespread organizational disdain, it shows the limitations of autocratic leadership. These days, that can be expensive for an organization--and very damaging to its long-term prospects.
The high cost of autocratic leadership
If you have any interest in a company's direction, autocratic leadership will rub you the wrong way. One of the characteristics of autocratic or authoritarian leaders is their insistence on strict control. A result of that is a work environment full of employees who do nothing to advance, change, innovate or solve since their contributions will not be welcome.
The potential cost of this in an organization is high.
Leadership styles also play a role in talent recruitment and retention.
Remote and hybrid work has removed geographical barriers for top talent, so individuals can choose to work for leaders who will respect their opinion and voice even if they are located across the world.
Potential employees will research the culture of leadership in an organization before accepting a role, and current top employees who bring a wealth of ideas and experience will leave opportunities under autocratic leadership and go to organizations where their voice is appreciated.
Here are some potential costs of having autocratic leadership in an organization.
- Higher attrition/reduced retention
- Lower morale
- Less creativity
- No innovation
- Toxic culture
- Dissatisfaction
- Reduced productivity
- Negative impacts to reputation
Historically, autocratic leadership has been associated with some of the worst tyrants and dictators in the world.
Better leadership styles for today's business environment
Other leadership styles have a lot more to offer in terms of utilizing each and every team member.
Transformational leadership is a powerful way to make an organization flexible, adaptable and scalable, for example.
Transformational and collaborative leadership can be identified through some of the following traits.
- Shared vision and mission
- Democratic decision-making
- Active listening
- Balanced scorecard (or not solely measuring outcomes by output or financial results)
- Inspirational motivation
- Intellectual stimulation
- Self-awareness
- Humility
- Openness to change
There are so many different leadership styles to consider for each person's management style and each type of organization. Leadership can be learned! And researching various leadership styles is a great way to find powerful ways to inspire team members and build great working environments.
With that in mind, check out What is Charismatic Leadership, And Why Do Organizations Value It?.
1Robinson, Bryan (Nov. 21, 2022). Forbes, Elon Musk’s Leadership Style Bad For Business And Mental Health, Experts Warn https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2022/11/21/elon-musks-leadership-style-bad-for-business-and-mental-health-experts-warn/
2Eaton, Kit. Amazon’s CEO Just Defended Its RTO Mandate Again. Employees Still Aren’t Happy. Inc. (11/26/2024). https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/amazons-ceo-just-defended-its-rto-mandate-again-employees-still-arent-happy/91000110
3U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024). Productivity and remote work. https://www.bls.gov/productivity/notices/2024/productivity-and-remote-work.htm
