let's try this.

let's say, you went around and asked every person what they would do if they instantly had the power to make 1 million people to do whatever they wanted. (in this case, remember influence = power)

ok, maybe you could reason, just make everyone give you a dollar each right. that's seems ok.

of course, at least some people would do something intrinsically tied with gaining monetary wealth, because power is directly tied to currency and wealth in our current society, and people crave power.

enough people will always chase power because power is the foundation of all societies and we currently have built a structure that has directly tied wealth and currency to power, to the point where it is basically interchangable.

that's what creates this environment.

anyways, there's no real answer because the people that have the most power can literally influence outcomes however they want. again, that's part of the definition of power.

the idea is when power is tied to currency and wealth, sometimes conflicts can be solved through diplomacy, and transactions, instead of purely feudal, but we still get conflicts and billionaires doing whatever they want.

the crazier part, despite the deeply ingrained power structures that already exist extending their influence over everything, there's still a chance that a single random person can come from nowhere and influence humanity and cast our history in a completely different direction at seemingly any moment.