I have found when I ask people about a leader who has had an important influence in their career, they often talk about someone who believed in them, more than they believed in themselves at that point in time. Maybe you have experienced that type of leader who brought out the best version of you.
Cheryl is a leader with that ability. She can see people’s strengths and tap into their passion. The same talent enables her to attract smart people who want the opportunity to be on her team. She can also retain mature, clever people who have hit the ceiling in their career. Her teams always have high engagement scores.
Liz Wiseman describes leaders like Cheryl in her book Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter. She argues leaders can either diminish people or inspire them to do more than they thought they could do themselves; to give 120%.
In analysing data from over 150 leaders, Wiseman identified five disciplines that distinguish Multipliers from Diminishers.
The Five Disciplines of the Multipliers are what she calls:
The Talent Magnet 🧲
Attracts talented people and uses them at their highest point of contribution
The Liberator 🗽
Creates an intense environment that requires people’s best thinking and work
The Challenger 🧗♂️
Defines an opportunity that causes people to stretch
The Debate maker 🗣
Drives sound decisions through rigorous debate
The Investor 🕵️♀️
Gives other people the ownership for results and invests in their success
Wiseman has not based these five disciplines on innate talent, but they are skills and practices that everyone can learn to use—even lifelong and recalcitrant Diminishers.
According to Wiseman, the data shows that by extracting people’s full capability, Multipliers get twice the capability from people than do Diminishers.
🙋 How do leaders get the best from people in your experience? 🙋♀️
Best Regards, Brian
