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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Liz Wiseman
Read between
March 15 - April 18, 2024
I have become convinced that the biggest leadership challenge of our times is not insufficient resources per se, but rather our inability to access the most valuable resources at our disposal.
people are often “overworked and underutilized.”
There is more intelligence inside our organizations than we are using.
I’ve learned that people across cultures, across professions, across industries come to work each day hoping to be well utilized—not by being given more and more work, but through the recognition that they are capable of contributing in significant ways and doing progressively more challenging work.
Multipliers get more from their people because they are leaders who look beyond their own genius and focus their energy on extracting and extending the genius of others.
Multipliers don’t get more with less; they get more by using more. More of people’s intelligence and capability, enthusiasm and trust.
“What is the next challenge for you? What would be a stretch assignment?”
about the blockers. A favorite question was “What is getting in the way of your being successful?”
when you become the leader, the center of gravity is no longer yourself.
the leader’s job is to put other people onstage.
They create both comfort and pressure in the environment. In the eyes of the Liberator, it is a just exchange: I give you space; you give me back your best work.
Another fair trade: I give you permission to make mistakes; you have an obligation to learn from the mistakes and not repeat them.
“How smart you are is defined by how clearly you can see the intellect of others.”
Liberators don’t just listen a lot of the time, they listen most of the time, massively shifting the ratio and creating space for others to share what they know.
Liberators begin by creating space, but they do more than create space for others to contribute. They also expect extraordinary work in return.
He asked, “What does it look like? Who did it impact? How do I avoid doing it again?”
The highest quality of thinking cannot emerge without learning. Learning can’t happen without mistakes.
A. G. Lafley, former CEO at Procter & Gamble, said, “You want your people to fail early, fast, and cheap—and then learn from it.”
Under the influence of a Diminisher, the organization pays full price for a resource but only receives about 50 percent of its value.
People’s best thinking must be given, not taken. A manager may be able to insist on certain levels of productivity and output, but someone’s full effort, including their truly discretionary effort, must be given voluntarily.
Multipliers don’t tell people what to think; they tell them what to think about. They define a challenge that invites each person’s best thinking and generates collective will.
The number one difference between a Nobel Prize winner and others is not IQ or work ethic, but that they ask bigger questions. PETER DRUCKER
“What would be your Mission Impossible?”
people get smarter and stronger by being challenged. As people embrace the challenge, both their insights and the belief grows. Soon, the impossible begins to look possible.
Once a leader accepts that he or she doesn’t have to have all the answers, he or she is free to ask much bigger, more provocative, and, frankly, more interesting questions. They can pursue things they don’t know how to do.
The Bennion Center is still thriving today, built on the assumption that you don’t get the most out of people if you just tell them what to do. You get full effort if you help people discover opportunity and then challenge themselves.
As Peter Block, consulting guru and author, observed, “the most powerful work is done in response to an opportunity not in response to a problem.”
Multipliers analyze problems, but they also reframe them to show the opportunity presented by the challenges.
Diminishers give answers. Good leaders ask questions. Multipliers ask the really hard questions.
Multipliers generate belief—the belief that the impossible is actually possible. It isn’t enough that people see and understand the stretch; they need to actually stretch themselves.
Consider the difference between a leader who yearns for an additional IQ point to take their IQ to 145, official Genius Level, and leaders who use their intelligence to add an IQ point to every person in their organization! What could your organization accomplish if every person became effectively “one point smarter”?
A good leader will ask questions and let his or her people figure out the answers. A great leader asks the questions that focus the intelligence of their team on the right problems.
I learned that the best leaders ask questions and let other people find answers.
When leaders operate as challengers—telling less and asking more—they get contributions from their people that far surpass what they thought they had to give and it is this concomitant exhilaration that makes people sign up again and again.
It is better to debate a decision without settling it than settling a decision without debating it. JOSEPH JOUBERT
In framing an issue, there are four parts to a well-crafted frame: THE QUESTION: What is the decision to be made? What are we choosing between? THE WHY: Why is this an important question to answer? Why does the decision warrant collective input and debate? What happens if it is not addressed? THE WHO: Who will be involved in making the decision? Who will give input? THE HOW: How will the final decision be made? Will it be made by majority rule? Consensus? Or will you (or someone else) make the final decision after others provide input and recommendations?
It doesn’t matter how creative you are as a leader, it doesn’t matter how good the answers you come up with. If you’re focusing on the wrong questions, you’re not really providing the leadership you should.4
The most productive debates are in answer to a well-defined question, one with clear, often mutually exclusive options. For example, a weak debate question is: Where should we cut expenses? A stronger debate question would be: Should we cut funding for project A or project B?
When a leader has clearly framed an issue (clarifying the question, rationale, and process) and allowed people to prepare, the team is ready for debate.
A great debate is: ENGAGING: The question is compelling and important to everyone in attendance. COMPREHENSIVE: The right information is shared to generate a holistic and collective understanding of the issues at hand. FACT BASED: The debate is deeply rooted in fact, not opinion. EDUCATIONAL: People leave the debate more focused on what they learned than on who won or lost.
Multipliers make sure everyone is wearing a seat belt because they are about to put their foot on the accelerator.
Jim Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape, was well-known for saying, “If you don’t have any facts, we’ll just use my opinion.”
Encourage others to take an opposing stand
Attack the issues, not the people
Ask “why” repeatedly until the root cause is unearthed
THE DISCUSSION LEADER only asks questions.
THE STUDENTS must supply evidence to support their theories.
EVERYONE participates.
As you rethink your role as a leader, you will come to see that your greatest contribution might depend on your ability to ask the right question, not have the right answer. You will see that all great thinking starts with a provocative question and a rich debate, whether it is in the mind of one person or an entire community.
Rigorous debate doesn’t break down a team; it builds the team and makes it stronger.
