Leadership
by Liz Wiseman
Who makes you smarter?
Under some bosses you think harder and do more than you knew you could. Under others you shrink. Liz Wiseman saw both kinds in her years at Oracle, then studied leaders in many companies and countries to find out what separates them.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Those are Wiseman's names for the two kinds. Diminishers need to be the smartest person in the room, and they drain the thinking out of everyone else. Multipliers use their intelligence to make the people around them smarter, so the same team gets far more done.
Underneath the habits sits an assumption. A Diminisher thinks people won't figure it out without them. A Multiplier thinks people are smart and will work it out. Wiseman says that one belief shapes everything a leader does, from who they hire to how they run a meeting.
Wiseman found five things Multipliers do. The Talent Magnet attracts able people and uses them fully. The Liberator makes room for their best thinking. The Challenger sets stretching problems. The Debate Maker has a decision argued out before making it, and the Investor hands people real ownership.
Know-It-Alls tell people what to do and how to do it. Challengers point to an opportunity and ask a question so hard that nobody, the boss included, knows the answer yet. The team has to stretch its thinking to find one.
Talent Magnets look for each person's native genius, the thing they do easily and freely, often without being asked. They name it out loud so the person knows it, then give them work that uses it. People grow fastest doing what comes naturally.
Two kinds
Multipliers make the people around them smarter. Diminishers leave them using half their brains.
Twice as much
Wiseman found people give roughly twice as much of their ability to a Multiplier.
Talent Magnet
A Talent Magnet spots what each person is naturally good at and puts it to work.
Liberator
Make it safe for people to think and speak, then expect their best work.
Challenger
Instead of handing out answers, a Challenger asks hard questions and lets the team stretch.
One thing to try
At your next meeting, give yourself a handful of poker chips (coins will do). Each time you speak, spend one. When they're gone, you listen. Wiseman suggests this to leaders who talk too much, because the space they leave fills with other people's thinking.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Multipliers comes with a Name That Idea round and a Spot the Trap case to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWho makes you smarter? Under some bosses you think harder and do more than you knew you could. Under others you shrink. Liz Wiseman saw both kinds in her years at Oracle, then studied leaders in many companies and countries to find out what separates them.
Multipliers and Diminishers; It starts with a belief; Five disciplines; Ask the hard question; Native genius.
At your next meeting, give yourself a handful of poker chips (coins will do). Each time you speak, spend one. When they're gone, you listen. Wiseman suggests this to leaders who talk too much, because the space they leave fills with other people's thinking.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Multipliers in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Name That Idea round and a Spot the Trap case to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
