Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter Kindle Edition

I wanted to take a moment to share a great leadership book I read through in 2015 that continues to shape and challenge the way I lead others. Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone SmarterLeadershipMuch of what constitutes good leadership can be summarized in two words: respect and selflessness.How we relate to those two words will determine how we lead. Consider two assumptions that lie at the opposite ends of the spectrum:• Really intelligent people are a rare breed and I am one of the few really smart people. People will never be able to figure things out without me. I need to have all the answers.• Smart people are everywhere and will figure things out and get even smarter in the process. My job is to ask the right questions.What you believe has a big impact on the performance, engagement, loyalty and the transparency you find with those you lead and interact with. In Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, authors Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown refer to those with the mindset represented by the first assumption as Diminshers and those with the mindset represented by the second assumption as Multipliers. It explains why some leaders create intelligence around them, while others diminish it.The value of Multipliers is that is shows what these assumptions about people look like in practice and how they are reflected in your behavior. How would you approach your job differently if you believed that people are smart and can figure it out? With a Multiplier mindset, people will surprise you. They will give more. You will learn more. What kind of solutions could we generate if you could access the underutilized brainpower in the world? How much more could you accomplish?It’s not that Diminishers don’t get things done. They do. It’s just that the people around them feel drained, overworked and underutilized. Some leaders seem to drain the “intelligence and capability out of the people around them. Their focus on their own intelligence and their resolve to be the smartest person in the room [has] a diminishing effect on everyone else. For them to look smart, other people had to end up looking dumb.” In short, Diminishers are absorbed in their own intelligence, stifle others, and deplete the organization of crucial intelligence and capability.Multipliers get more done by leveraging (using more) of the intelligence and capabilities of the people around them. They respect others. “Multipliers are leaders who look beyond their own genius and focus their energy on extracting and extending the genius of others.” These are not “feel good” leaders. “They are tough and exacting managers who see a lot of capacity in others and want to utilize that potential to the fullest.”The authors have identified five key behaviors or disciplines that distinguish Multipliers from Diminishers. You are not either/or but are somewhere along a continuum. These are all learned behaviors and have everything to do with how you view people. We don’t have to be great in all disciplines to be a Multiplier, but we have to be at least neutral in those disciplines we struggle with.

Seeing as I've read this three times, I can't believe I haven't written a review yet. No exaggeration, this book can be a life-changer both at work and in your personal life. I admit that the first time I read it I thought OK, this is so clear as to be obvious; I've seen these types of people for years at work. But so what? I never thought it through and Liz has done the research so my anecdotal evidence, not worth much, is supplanted by the real thing. Chapter by chapter, the concepts were illuminated with great examples and stories. This is no flavor of the month, these are concepts that can be used easily at work. And if applied, they work. I can attest to that. I also recommend going to the book's website for more tools. I took their test to see if I was what Liz calls an "accidental diminisher" (diminishers being the opposite of multipliers), and to my dismay I had several of the traits. I was so sure I wouldn't, but the explanation and analysis made sense to me. I teach a college course in business management and I'm now using this book as required reading. It's astounding how quickly the students grasp the multiplier concept and use it in their analyses of case studies and current business news.

Practical leadership book subtitled “How the best leaders make everyone smarter.” Full of real life examples from business and life (there is a comprehensive list of the Multipliers cited in the Appendix, along with information on the research), this fascinating book begins by describing the Multiplier effect, continues with 5 chapters contrasting Multipliers with Diminishers: Talent Magnets vs. Empire Builders, Liberators vs. Tyrants, Challengers vs. Know-It-Alls, Debate Makers vs. Decision Makers, and Investors vs. Micromanagers. Each of these pragmatic chapters closes with a quick contract of the two types, citing the key practices of each Multiplier type, steps to becoming each type and unexpected findings that emerged from the research.This exceptional book closes guidance on becoming a Multiplier (there is also a 360 degree assessment at www.multipliersbook.com to enable the reader to identify their position along the Multiplier-Diminisher continuum.

One-quarter of the way through the book and I can't wait to finish. It's fantastic-- content is top-notch. Academic and logical, yet practical and accessible. I am thinking about my church responsibility as I listen to it, and Wiseman mentions athletics coaches, business people, teachers, and politicians. It's really an introduction to starting to think of human potential in a new way. I'm glad my friend recommended this to me, and I'm going to recommend it to a lot more people.I think the author reads the Audible version, and I love her tone. It's conversational enough to feel friendly, but she still speaks with the authority of someone who has invested in the work and believes it.

We’ve all heard—and said—that less is more. Sometimes it’s true. But in most cases it’s still the reality that more is more, and is usually the preferred ROI of resources, whether those resources are of time, money, manpower, brain-trust, whatever. Best of all is getting more from less, and that is what Liz Wiseman’s fine book teaches us to do. Using a wide-range of varying case studies and examples from the world over, Wiseman itemizes the symptoms of a variety of leadership illnesses that sicken a corporate culture and disable its employees. You may well find yourself hiding in these pages somewhere; I know I did. Fortunately, after helping us see where we are minimizing rather than maximizing the human resources at our disposal, Wiseman clearly articulates the prescription(s) to fix the problem(s). It has the added advantage of being an engaging, thoughtful and well-written treatment.

This book tells you exactly how to get as close to the Multiplier end of the scale as you can get. It gets you to consider your own management and leadership style and what you get from your workers as a result of how and what you do. It will tell you how to shift your thinking and how and where to change your methods, so you start to get more brainpower from your people. What’s more, they will want to give it!This book really helped me. It’s different from the many leadership books that are out there. What’s so great is that it is so precise, it goes down several layers providing easy to understand practical insights into exactly how to lead like a Multiplier. You can easily refer back to this book too as it provides Multiplier Formulas in short sound bites after each chapter.

Talks a lot about the author, her qualifications, and the need for the book, but provides little valuable insight and seems to contain a lot of anecdote and fluff

We've all worked with the opposite of multipliers, what the book calls 'dimishers' and this book gives helpful tips on how to develop the skills to be a multiplier. Lots of reflect upon. The only downside is that it starts to feel quite repetitive as you work through the chapters.

Not a bad book, not an amazing book. It's got some good concepts but to me it felt like rehashed stuff I'd read before. To be fair however it neatly summarised various important points and would be a great book for someone who is aspiring to change the way they lead others, or those looking to get into a leadership post.

Fascinating book! It made me think a lot about my experiences with my manager as well as my own way of leading and engaging a team.