This book entered two new words into my vocabulary of personality: “diminisher” and “multiplier.” To Wiseman, these contrasting interpersonal styles are the secret understanding to why some smart people succeed at leadership and others fail. A diminisher is someone who socially tries to prove how smart they are to everyone around them. As such, they promote themselves, not the people around them. In stark contrast, multipliers make the people around them feel smarter and more ingenious on their own. This evokes greater – in other words, multiply – results from the team (as much as twofold according to Wiseman’s data).
First, it should be acknowledged that Wiseman and her team did not make up these contrasts on their own. Instead, they conducted qualitative and quantitative research into organizations to understand why some leaders can evoke great results while others do not. The methods of their research are described in an appendix. Although many readers do not like examining research methodology, it’s helpful to see that empiric research, not personal opinion, drives this book’s direction.
Most of the book describes five different practices that multipliers do that diminishers do the opposite. They can seem like more personality types rooted in leadership styles. It’s helpful to know that most multipliers do slightly well on most styles but excel at just one or two. This book seeks to identify ways incrementally that people can avoid the bad practices of diminishers and promote a few more good practices.
At times, this book can veer into “self-help rah-rah.” That is, it can become more motivational than substance, in spite of the research framework underlying this work. Despite these moments, most of the book communicates the central contrast of multipliers with diminishers. It definitely can evoke readers’ memories of various diminisher authority figures in their history (like bad bosses and bad teachers). Overall, such intellectual processing can prove beneficial because it can remind us why we need to steer away from negative practices that can hurt other people.
This book’s intended audience mainly consists of aspiring leaders. It can also consist of current leaders who desire to raise their leadership game. This work was well-received by the reading public when it debuted several years ago and achieved bestseller status. The general message can help motivate people to focus on how their actions affect others more than themselves. While business and social audiences will benefit most from it, we can all become more attuned to how our attitudes, for better or worse, multiply on each other.
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
By Liz Wiseman
Narrated by John Meagher
Copyright (c) 2017
HarperAudio
ASIN: B06XXZSZRJ
Length: 11:24
Genre: Leadership
www.amazon.com