I was catching up with a VC friend recently and he pointed out that almost all successful companies, be it old behemoths like Reliance (Mukesh and Manoj Modi) or new age successful IPOs like Zomato (Deepinder) and Paytm (VSS) are run by strong willed leaders and not by committees.

More leaders at the top means more empire building. People fighting for resources. The CEO trying to please everyone.

Failures (firings) and rewards (promos) are both distributed equally though impact might not be equal.

Decisions through polling means a lack of backbone and the inability to own up to a decision. 

Companies are not built in a democratic way. If polled all employees would want 5 hour/ 3 day workweeks. And a 100% hike every year.

Another view I hold that is unpopular: CEOs are underpaid. A good CEO with a single decision can change the course of a company. A 10% improvement in decision making can generate billions of shareholder value. Good CEOs are rare though. And hence they are comped well. r/antiwork would seethe at this.

Do note: Correlation does not imply causation. Being autocratic does not mean you are a good leader/ CEO. A lot of CEOs in the Indian startup ecosystem are autocrats but have no vision and leadership skills. It was an observation made by a VC. Take it how you want.