Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter

by Liz Wiseman

The logic of addition creates a scenario in which people become both overworked and underutilized.

1. Most people in organizations are underutilized. 2. All capability can be leveraged with the right kind of leadership. 3. Therefore, intelligence and capability can be multiplied without requiring a bigger investment.

really intelligent people are a rare breed and I am one of the few really smart people.

other people will never figure things out without me.

intelligence as static, meaning it doesn’t change over time or circumstance.

people are smart and will figure it out.

they conclude that their job is to bring the right people together in an environment that liberates people’s best thinking and then to get out of their way.

They both are customer driven. Both have strong business acumen and market insight. Both surround themselves with smart people, and both consider themselves thought leaders.

producing a climate that is both comfortable and intense.

The Diminisher is a Know-It-All. The Multiplier is a Challenger.

The Diminisher is a Decision Maker. The Multiplier is a Debate Maker.

They see a lot, so they expect a lot.

In any organization, there are Talent Magnets, people who attract the best talent, utilize it to its fullest, and ready it for the next stage. These are leaders who have a reputation not only for delivering results, but for creating a place where young, talented people can grow. They are accelerators to other people’s careers.

they are the wrong candidate in the first three minutes of a job interview. But regardless, you feel compelled to proceed with the obligatory sixty-minute interview and the pleasantries of “We’ll get back to you.” The Strüengmann brothers cut right to the chase. When they were looking for a general manager for Hexal in the Netherlands, they began with the normal actions—they engaged an external recruiter, gave her the job requirements, and then waited for a list of candidates. The recruiter brought forward nine candidates. But then they did something quite unusual. They made arrangements to conduct the interviews in a single day in a rented conference room at Schiphol Airport, just outside Amsterdam. The recruiter reviewed their planned interview schedule and was shocked—they had allowed just ten minutes per interview. She called to inform them that it was impossible to interview so quickly! The Strüengmann brothers disagreed. They met with each candidate for just three minutes—every candidate except their final candidate, with whom they spent three hours. They explained their unusual approach: “When we consider each person, we ask one or two questions. If they don’t fit, we simply don’t continue the conversation. If the person is individualistic, we know that he or she won’t fit in our culture. When we find someone who will fit with our company, then we spend a lot of time with this person to make sure we understand their capability and what they would bring to our organi...

don’t have an org chart. This isn’t like some elite organizations that choose not to publish their org

Look for Talent Everywhere

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