Multipliers Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

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Brief Summary

A boss’s tendencies can severely affect the productivity of those that work for them. Leaders should be conscious of the effect they have on their employees and strive to maximize the possibilities of their people. This multiplier effect can occur through several avenues, like making a comfortable workplace, trusting the intelligence of employees, encouraging debate and feedback, and investing in the independent development of workers. By practicing these ideal behaviors and avoiding harmful ones, bosses can inspire the most out of their company and experience the best results for everyone involved.

About the Author

Liz Wiseman is a researcher, author, and executive advisor. She teaches leadership skills to executives around the world. She is CEO of the Wiseman Group, a leadership research firm in Silicon Valley California. Her research focuses on the field of leadership and collective intelligence. Her clients include Apple, AT&T, Disney, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Nike, Salesforce, Tesla, and Twitter. She writes for the Harvard Business Review and is a guest lecturer at Stanford University. She holds a BA in business management and a MA in Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University.

Topics

Management & Leadership

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Key Insights

In our working lives, we all encounter good and bad bosses. A good boss makes us feel creative, needed, and excited to come to work while a bad boss makes us dread our jobs. In Wiseman’s book, she considers what qualities set these people apart, specifically how good bosses are Multipliers: people who inspire productivity that is multiples higher than that under mediocre leadership. Wiseman explains what it takes for anyone to become a Multiplier by creating a fair and encouraging environment for all their talent and simultaneously explains how to avoid becoming a bad boss that diminishes the possibilities of their team.

Bosses call into two categories: those that diminish the strengths of their team and those that multiply them. These are known as “Multipliers” and “Diminishers”

Most people have had a diminishing boss at some point in their lives. The hallmarks are familiar: you don’t feel excited about going to work, are frightened of their barking feedback, and always feel them looking over your shoulder.

Bosses like these are bad not only for the individual employees but for the function of the entire organization. Employees become worried about missteps and avoid creativity and honest communication. Ideas get left unsaid or undreamt. According to Wiseman, employees with these sorts of bosses only gave 20-50% effort on a daily basis.

Good bosses, on the other hand, create a thriving environment for their employees. By encouraging their team to make the most of their talents, ideas, and intelligence, they help raise the game for their entire organization.

Most bosses lie somewhere in between, not quite an extreme of one or the other. But by becoming aware of the distinction between multiplier and diminisher, any boss can change the way they approach their employees and start the path towards excellent leadership.

“Talent Magnets” find teams in unexpected places and make the most of individual strengths. Meanwhile “Empire Builders” can attract teams, but neglect to nurture the talent they onboard.

L writes that there are different ways that bosses can exhibit Multiplier qualities. The first type that she considers is the Talent Magnet or a boss that attracts excited and motivated people.

She tells the story of Ernest Shackleton, an explorer who wanted to launch an expedition to Antarctica. Shackleton advertised his mission in the local newspaper, explaining plainly the realities of the dangerous but exciting mission. In response, he received hundreds of applications from around the world and was able to put together an ideal team. As a result, Shackleton and his team made it through their mission with no casualties or injuries.

Wiseman explains that Shackleton is an example of a Talent Magnet because he was not afraid to look everywhere for his talent. In his search, he was not afraid of traditional boundaries and vetting processes and opened his search to anyone who felt interested in his mission. By avoiding limiting hierarchies he was able to find the team of his dreams.

Bosses can implement this skill by also widening their conception of where talent can be found. By...