A "great men" is typically a manifestation of a collective Will in the schopenhauerian sense, or the Buddhist 愿力 . When the crowd expresses admiration for a great figure they are in fact endorsing their own vision. Mao has this quality. Deng and Putin don't. They are both "strongmen".
Of course, a great man is typically a strongman the same time. When he dies, the effect of the death of the strongman sets in, but the "great man" part of him fears no death. The Will lives on in the crowd.