Dictator paradox: Why micromanagement is so tempting

I firmly believe all creative people hate when others tell them what to do. When instead of problems to solve, they are handled solutions to implement or, even worse, isolated tasks to just complete.

Yet, the world is full of micromanagers.

Over my career, I’ve heard countless complaints about how managers do not give their reports enough context, enough trust, enough freedom. That they decide all on their own.

Why is that?

Because micromanagement gets the thing done faster.

Well, kind of. Let me explain.

Dictators and complex systems

Originally a dictator (a micromanager is a local dictator) was a role in Ancient Rome, giving almost unlimited power to a selected individual during wartime. The appointment was for emergencies only and it was time-limited.

The idea was that one person would hold all the important information in their head and, because of that, they will make educated decisions fast. And during the war, a good decision today trumps a better decision tomorrow.

Having a dictator was actually very smart.

At wartime.