Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
Written by Greg McKeown
Narrated by John Meagher
4/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Are you a genius or a genius maker?
We've all had experience with two dramatically different types of leaders. The first type drain intelligence, energy, and capability from the ones around them and always need to be the smartest ones in the room. These are the idea killers, the energy sappers, the diminishers of talent and commitment. On the other side of the spectrum are leaders who use their intelligence to amplify the smarts and capabilities of the people around them. When these leaders walk into a room, lightbulbs go off over people's heads, ideas flow, and problems get solved. These are the leaders who inspire employees to stretch themselves to deliver results that surpass expectations. These are the Multipliers. And the world needs more of them, especially now, when leaders are expected to do more with less.
In this engaging and highly practical book, leadership expert Liz Wiseman and management consultant Greg McKeown explore these two leadership styles, persuasively showing how Multipliers can have a resoundingly positive and profitable effect on organizations—getting more done with fewer resources, developing and attracting talent, and cultivating new ideas and energy to drive organizational change and innovation.
In analyzing data from more than 150 leaders, Wiseman and McKeown have identified five disciplines that distinguish Multipliers from Diminishers. These five disciplines are not based on innate talent; indeed, they are skills and practices that everyone can learn to use—even lifelong and recalcitrant Diminishers. Lively, real-world case studies and practical tips and techniques bring to life each of these principles, showing you how to become a Multiplier too, whether you are a new or an experienced manager. Just imagine what you could accomplish if you could harness all the energy and intelligence around you. Multipliers will show you how.
Greg McKeown
Greg McKeown is a partner at The Wiseman Group, where he leads the workshop and assessment practice and teaches around the world. Originally from London, England, Greg holds an MBA from Stanford University.
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Reviews for Multipliers
70 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quite and interesting research. Easy reading and lots of clear examples. it's worth giving a try.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent material to learn about. I could see were some of my supervisors and peers are as well as myself. Didn’t see it that way.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone has a native genius! Leaders should identify it in its people and activate the talent..
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed the principles of this book and I think they will be very helpful. I struggled between a 3 and 4 star rating because the writing style seems kind of unorganized at times, and gets repetitive. I didn't know there is an updated version, so hopefully it is even better.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I highly recommended for anyone leading a team or for anyone who just wants to make a positive contribution to their team/company!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Like too many of these books, this could have been a tri-fold tract, or a ten page pamphlet and conveyed the message quite adequately. It's a short, actually sound treatise unfortunately blown up with sensationalist repetition (sadly, not in a reinforcing way.) I saw "thought-provoking" in a reference, and was intrigued enough to read it, but really, it isn't. I don't know why books like these are presented as something that "makes us rethink many of our old assumptions." Use your talents to help bring the better product out of others...no brainer, right? Of course, the counter examples are those we all know...the ones who think (consciously or not) they are the smartest ones in the room, to the never ending detriment of the team...
I'll summarize:
"Multipliers" multiply the capabilities of others by being Talent Magnets, Liberators, Challengers, Debate Makers, and Investors (typo in a chart late in the book had "Inventor"...odd it hadn't been caught)
"Diminishers" diminish the capabilities of others by being Empire Builders, Tyrants, Know-It-Alls, Decision Makers (not in a good way), and Micro managers.
A frustrating part of the repetition is not just similar stories over and over, but actual repetition. I had a few quibbling points with Ms. Wiseman's narrative. She said many, many times throughout that Multipliers "extract" capability and intelligence of people, while trying to demonstrate that the good ones are not trying to be the "smartest in the room". Semantics maybe, but the pervasive use of that word "extract" implied to me that she was saying these Multipliers are the smartest in the room, because they have to "extract" those capabilities and intelligences from the lesser minions. Better word choices - and better mental model - would be nudge, tease, prod, cajole, encourage... "Extract" means the Multipliers have to pull out of others what they need. I prefer to encourage open thought.
She asks "How would you: Manage talent?" Poor word choice. A common fallacy. People aren't managed, they are led.
But my real heartburn was over this: Not only do Multipliers extract capability and intelligence from people, they do it in a way that extends and grows that intelligence. In our interviews people often said Multipliers accessed more than 100 percent capability. They would say, "Oh, they got 120 percent from me." Initially, I pushed back, citing that getting more than 100 percent is mathematically impossible. But we continued to hear people claim Multipliers got more than 100 percent from them. Greg pushed this issue, suggesting this pattern was an important data point. We began to ask: Why would people insist that intelligence Multipliers got more out of them than they actually had?
This could have undermined their entire premise, and did make me question more of what they said. How can anyone with a critical mind present this, and follow on with more of the same? You can never get more than people can do. You might be able to help people get more than they think can do, but clearly they are already capable of doing whatever it is that the Multipliers take or are given credit for else they wouldn't be able to do it. I found that assertion disturbing.
Regardless, take the nuggets of value and put them to use. And there are some nuggets of value. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A practical, worthy read for managers who want to be leaders. Thought provoking and insightful. Having done lots of business readings, their research did not strike me as particularly new or earth shattering. It is a cautionary tale against our tendency to become a micromanager repackaged and reframed in a multiplier vs diminisher continuum. However, it gave some good insight and I was able to recognize that I have some accidental diminishing traits. I appreciated the concrete examples of what multipliers do differently and actual actions to obtain those goals. Don’t miss the FAQs at the end where the authors answer some tough questions about their research and ideas. Two brief critiques: 1 It seemed redundant at times. I think the 235 pages could have been reduced by a third, without eliminating any content or ideas. 2. Examples are heavy with high level executives from technology and biotech industries. On how to be a multiplier if you are managing minimum wage service workers whose jobs are more task orientated and physical (which make up a significant portion of our “new economy”) the book is strangely silent.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A well put assessment of nature vs. nurture in the Manager-sphere. Solid research that leaves you feeling hopeful that humanism has a seat at the head of the table. As I read it I was compelled to replace Multiplier & Diminisher with kindhearted/mean spirited, happy/sad or empathetic/selfish with the same result. I hope her next book will deconstruct the "unbreakable colleague."