Multipliers, Revised and Updated: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter

by Liz Wiseman

they are capable of contributing in significant ways and doing progressively more challenging work.

loomed over his shoulder, managed every detail, and found every mistake, the tension mounted.

a change in command can often cause a change in capability.

these leaders understood that the person sitting at the apex of the intelligence hierarchy is the genius maker, not the genius.

It isn’t just how intelligent your team members are; it is how much of that intelligence you can draw out and put to use.

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. And they don’t get just a little more back; they get vastly more.

resource leverage creates competitive advantage.

the language of multiplication (that is, higher growth by better utilizing the resources that already exist).

People may initially be attracted to work with a Diminisher, but it is often the place where people’s careers die.

The Diminisher is a Know-It-All who gives directives. The Multiplier is a Challenger who defines opportunities.

The Diminisher is a Micromanager who jumps in and out. The Multiplier is an Investor who gives others ownership and full accountability.

more concerned with advancing their own careers than growing the people on their team.

They bring in top talent and make big promises, but then they underutilize their people and disenchant them.

Life with an Empire Builder doesn’t offer the same thrill ride. It is a world of politics, ownership, and limitations.

Instead of asking, “Is this person smart?” try asking, “In what way is this person smart?”

While most managers try to retain their top players, the best leaders know when it’s time to let them go.

Liberators operate with this dual operating system much like a hybrid car that switches over seamlessly between the electric and the gasoline engine.

“How smart you are is defined by how clearly you can see the intellect of others.”

“You have to be smart enough to learn.”

People’s best thinking must be given, not taken.

“screwup of the week.”

Mistakes are an essential part of progress.

Creating a clear “waterline” for your team will give them confidence to experiment and take bolder action but will signal to them to be extra diligent where the stakes are high.

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. They create an environment where every brain is utilized and every voice is heard. Instead of rebellion, they create a movement.

Create Space • Release others by restraining yourself • Shift the ratio of listening to talking • Define a space for discovery • Level the playing field 2. Demand Best Work • Defend the standard • Distinguish best work from outcomes 3. Generate Rapid Learning Cycles • Admit and share mistakes • Insist on learning from mistakes

people get smarter and stronger by being challenged.

“Are these the transformations needed in the business?” and “Which of our assumptions about the future might be wrong?”

But he emerged a more powerful leader when he first seeded the opportunity, then laid down the stretch challenge for the organization. By doing this, he wasn’t setting the direction, he was ensuring the direction was set and operating as a Challenger.

intelligence grows by being stretched and tested.

they provide just enough information to provoke thinking and to help people discover and see the opportunity for themselves.

creating the opportunity for people to see the challenge so they can respond to it.”

You get full effort if you help people discover opportunity and then challenge themselves.

“the most powerful work is done in response to an opportunity not in response to a problem.”

Multipliers provide a starting point but not a complete solution. In this way, they generate more questions than answers. These questions then encourage their team to fully define the opportunity while giving them confidence that they are building on a solid foundation.

Multipliers create a meaningful proof point that a bold challenge can be successfully met.

Multipliers begin with small, early wins and use those to generate belief toward the greater stretch challenges.

It is not the Multiplier who whips up this belief. Rather, it is the challenge he or she has issued that generates this commitment.

Rather than shift responsibility to other people, Diminishers stay in charge and tell others—in detail—how to do their jobs.

in the end, Know-It-Alls limit what their organization can achieve to what they themselves know how to do.

Because they are encouraged to be “smarter than the leader,” people can stop competing for idea validation and instead commit themselves to the challenge. And the result is that intelligence grows—individually and collectively. The collective intent built within the organization enables the whole group to break through challenges no single leader, however intelligent, could have done alone.

Challengers start with developing their overactive imagination and a serious case of curiosity.

“What do you think might go wrong?”

They lack a rich view of intelligence in which there are many sources of insight waiting to be more fully utilized and where intelligence develops through engagement and challenge.

with enough good minds on it, we can figure it out.

creating a rigorous debate requires a deliberate approach.

Diminishers raise issues, dominate discussions, and force decisions, Multipliers: 1) frame the issues; 2) spark the debate; and 3) drive sound decisions.

Our research has shown that the secret to a great decision is what the leader does before the debate starts.

The work of the Multiplier is to find the right issue and formulate the right question, so others can find the answers.

The most productive debates are in answer to a well-defined question, one with clear, often mutually exclusive options.

Multipliers create safety, but they also maintain pressure for a reality-based, rigorous debate. Multipliers make sure everyone is wearing a seat belt because they are about to put their foot on the accelerator.