Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter

by Liz Wiseman

I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow. WOODROW WILSON

These Talent Magnets: 1) look for talent everywhere; 2) find people’s native genius; 3) utilize people at their fullest; and 4) remove the blockers.

A native genius is something that people do, not only exceptionally well, but absolutely naturally. They do it easily (without extra effort) and freely (without condition).

By telling people what you see, you can raise their awareness and confidence, allowing them to provide their capability more fully.

By labeling his genius for him, Larry unlocked this ability for John.

Finding people’s native genius and then labeling it is a direct approach to drawing more intelligence from them.

Connect People with Opportunities

Marguerite finds other people’s genius and then shines a spotlight on it for everyone to see their talent in action.

Many leaders are banyan trees; they protect their people, but nothing grows under them.

Talent Magnets remove the barriers that block the growth of intelligence in their people.

Diminishers think People need to report to me in order to get them to do anything.

Diminishers are owners of talent, not developers of talent.

They bring in great talent and carve out a fiefdom for them, but they don’t encourage people to step beyond these walls.

Empire Builders leave capability on the table while Talent Magnets create and grow intelligence all around them.

Identify it. Make a list of eight to ten people you work with closely.

Test it. Once you’ve developed a hypothesis about each person, test out your thinking and refine your views.

Work it. Once you’ve found a native genius for someone, make a list of five different roles you could put this person in that would utilize and expand this genius.

PULL SOME WEEDS. Individual genius can be deceptive. At first look, it would appear costly to remove one supersmart player, even if she has a diminishing effect on a team.

but they underutilize it because they hoard resources and use them only for their own gain.

TALENT MAGNETS get access to the best talent because people flock to work for them knowing they will be fully utilized and developed to be ready for the next stage.

Multipliers liberate people from the oppressive forces within corporate hierarchy. They liberate people to think, to speak, and to act with reason.

Multipliers create an intense environment in which superior thinking and work can flourish.

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

Diminishers don’t generate these cycles. They might request—if not demand—people’s best thinking, but they fail to establish the environment where ideas are easily expressed and developed to full maturity and efficacy.

two modes: 1) militant insistence on their ideas and 2) passive indifference to the ideas and work of others.

Because so few people are willing to work with him twice.

Some leaders create an intense environment that requires people’s best thinking and work.

Tyrants are like a gas that expands and consumes all the available space.

suffocate other people’s intelligence

The hallmark of a Tyrant is their temperamental and unpredictable behavior.

“anxiety tax”

Tyrants centralize their power and play judge, jury, and executioner.

Tyrants create cycles of criticism, judgment, and retreat.

Why do Liberators get the full value from their resources?

Because they engage people’s natural intelligence,

but someone’s full effort, including their truly discretionary effort, must be given voluntarily.

Instead of demanding the best work directly, they create an environment where it not only can be offered, but where it is deeply needed.

they get twice the capability with an extra 5 to 10 percent growth bonus.

believe that pressure increases performance.

An unsafe environment yields only the safest ideas.

PLAY YOUR CHIPS.

LABEL YOUR OPINIONS

Divide your views into “soft opinions” and “hard opinions

Soft opinions:

Hard opinions:

MAKE YOUR MISTAKES KNOWN

“screwup of the week.

Mistakes are an essential part of progress.

They aren’t necessarily social activists like Garrison, but they do activate intelligence.

TYRANTS create a tense environment that suppresses people’s thinking and capability.