DOES everyone seem to get dumber the longer they work for you?
The most painful leadership book I’ve ever read is the new bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, by Liz Wiseman and Greg Mckeown. It raises a fundamental question about leadership, one that has been waiting to be named, explored, and finally addressed: As a leader, are you a multiplier or a diminisher?
In asking the question, Wiseman and Mckeown have created a new set of terms that will be with us for a very long time, affecting millions. Their premise is that you’re either a leader who causes everyone around you to feel and actually become smarter (multiplier) or you’re one who causes everyone around you to feel and become dumber (diminisher). It gets to the crux of leadership – especially now that companies rely on the brains of their employees, not their backs, to stay competitive.
Genius or genius maker?
The authors ask another important question: “Are you a genius or a genius maker?” Do you need to be the one in the room seen as having all the answers or do you draw out the genius that’s within others in solving many of the complex problems facing business today?
Multipliers do this. Wiseman and Mckeown’s research found that multipliers get 2.1 times more capability from their workers than diminishers. Factor in the 5 per cent to 10 per cent annual growth bonus they estimate, because these same workers are getting smarter and more capable working for a multiplier, and you get the kinds of knowledge worker productivity needed this century.
Impact on family
These same multiplier effects extend to the family. Wiseman and Mckeown share the results from several studies showing how the environment parents create has a direct impact on a child’s IQ.
One specific change my wife and I made, after reading Multipliers, is to avoid praising our children for their intelligence and results. For instance, we’ve stopped saying, “You’re so good at maths”. The research shows that this actually decreases kids’ confidence as they face tougher problems since they don’t want to disappoint their parents. In many cases, they will simply avoid maths altogether when the going gets tough, rather than risk looking dumb.
Instead, the research suggests it’s better to praise children’s hard work and effort. You might say, “I appreciate the effort you’re making with these maths problems”. This approach increases their ability to reason and to solve more difficult problems. And it creates a belief, and then a reality, that grows their confidence and intelligence.
So it’s not that diminishers are necessarily mean-spirited or bad people – it’s just that they don’t fully understand how their words and approaches sap energy and intelligence from their families and associates. And it’s a continuum, with most of us falling somewhere in between the extremes.
Starts with assumptions
The bulk of Wiseman and Mckeown’s book focuses on how to become more of a multiplier, offering concrete how-to advice on attitudinal and behavioural changes. It starts with changing your assumptions about others as a leader.
Diminishers basically believe their people ‘will never figure this out without me’ and tend to ‘use, blame, tell, dictate, and control people’, according to the authors. Multipliers, in turn, believe their people ‘are smart and will figure this out’ and tend to ‘develop, explore, challenge, consult, and support people’.
In essence, diminishers micromanage their people; multipliers invest in their people.
Five disciplines of multipliers
It’s no accident that some managers are multipliers. Wiseman and Mckeown frame five disciplines that help them succeed. Multipliers:
• Attract talented people and deploy them at their highest point of contribution.
• Create an intense environment that requires people’s best thinking and work.
• Define an opportunity that causes people to stretch.
• Drive sound decisions through rigorous debate.
• Give people ownership of results and invest in their success.
So multipliers aren’t wimps. They demand and receive outstanding results from their people. It’s how you go about it that matters. Read the book and start making changes.