Multipliers, Revised and Updated: Complete Summary of Liz Wiseman’s Blueprint for Maximizing Team Intelligence

Introduction: What This Book Is About

Liz Wiseman’s “Multipliers, Revised and Updated” explores a groundbreaking leadership paradigm that categorizes leaders into two distinct types: Multipliers and Diminishers. This revised edition, building on the original 2010 bestseller, provides a deeper dive into why some leaders consistently amplify the intelligence and capability of those around them, while others inadvertently drain it. Wiseman, a seasoned executive advisor and former Oracle executive, leverages extensive research across industries and continents to reveal the five disciplines that differentiate Multipliers and offer actionable strategies for leaders to cultivate these traits.

The book posits that at a time of “new demands, insufficient resources,” organizations cannot afford leaders who suppress talent and innovation. Instead, they desperately need Multipliers who can extract and multiply the intelligence that already exists within their ranks. This complete summary will delve into each of the Multiplier disciplines, explore the phenomenon of the Accidental Diminisher, and provide a roadmap for individuals and organizations to become “genius makers” — leaders who don’t just solve problems but enable others to solve harder problems, adapt more quickly, and take more intelligent action, creating a more engaged, productive, and ultimately, smarter workforce. Readers, from first-time managers to world leaders, who seek to unlock the full potential of their teams and drive significant organizational growth will find invaluable insights within these pages.

Chapter One: The Multiplier Effect – Why Some Leaders Make Everyone Smarter

This chapter introduces the core concept of the Multiplier Effect, illustrating how certain leaders amplify intelligence and capability in their teams, while others diminish it. It sets the stage for understanding the profound impact of these two leadership styles.

The Problem with Genius: Diminishing Others’ Intelligence

Some leaders, often referred to as Diminishers, tend to focus on their own intelligence, creating an environment where others’ ideas and capabilities are stifled. These “black holes” of energy and ideas lead to shared IQ drops and longer, less productive meetings. Intelligence flows only one way: from them to others, effectively killing ideas and destroying energy. This approach means that for the Diminisher to look smart, others must appear less capable.

The Genius Maker: Amplifying Collective Intelligence

In contrast, Multipliers use their intelligence as a tool to amplify the smarts and capability of people around them. In their presence, ideas flourish, challenges are overcome, and difficult problems are solved. These leaders foster an environment where lightbulbs switch on over people’s heads, and meetings become “idea mash-up sessions.” Multipliers understand that the true power lies not in being the smartest person, but in being the genius maker who enables others’ brilliance.

Derek’s Navy Experience: A Case Study in Diminishing vs. Multiplying

The story of Derek Jones in the U.S. Navy vividly illustrates the Multiplier Effect. Under Commander Fredricks, a highly knowledgeable but micromanaging leader, Derek’s performance plummeted, leading to revoked qualifications. Fredricks’s constant scrutiny and public mockery created an environment of fear and tension, causing Derek to struggle with concentration and performance. However, with the arrival of Commander Abbot, a confident and trusting leader, Derek’s capabilities were restored and expanded. Abbot’s confidence and willingness to empower Derek led to stellar performance, rapid advancement, and a successful naval career. This stark contrast highlights how a change in leadership can dramatically alter individual capability.

The Research: Uncovering the Vital Differences

The book’s insights are based on a two-year formal research project led by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown, focusing on the question: “What are the vital few differences between intelligence Diminishers and intelligence Multipliers, and what impact do they have on organizations?” The research involved studying over 150 executives across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, including a detailed 360-degree interview process for many leaders. The study aimed to identify the “active ingredients” that differentiate these leadership styles, going beyond common leadership qualities.

A Tale of Two Managers: Vikram’s Experience at Intel

Vikram’s experience at Intel provides a sharp contrast between a Multiplier and a Diminisher. George Schneer, a Multiplier, created an environment where Vikram felt like a “rock star,” extracting 100% effort and helping him transition to a big-time manager. George spoke only 10% of the time in meetings, allowing his team to generate ideas worth millions, leading to outstanding revenue growth and enabling Intel’s entry into the microprocessor business. Conversely, Vikram’s second manager, a brilliant scientist, did all the thinking, talking 30% of the time in meetings and killing ideas. People “shut down” around him, and Vikram felt he only contributed 50% of his capability, vowing never to work for him again. This illustrates how even brilliant individuals can diminish others if they don’t leverage collective intelligence.

The 2× Multiplier Effect: Quantifying the Impact

Multipliers get significantly more from their people. Initial research found that Diminishers typically extracted 20% to 50% of a person’s capability, while Multipliers extracted 70% to 100%. This represents an almost twofold increase (1.97 times more) in capability. Further research, considering that people felt Multipliers accessed more than 100% of their capability (e.g., 120%), indicated that Multipliers actually get 2.1 times more than Diminishers. This suggests that Multipliers not only access current capability but also stretch and grow it, making people smarter and more capable.

Resource Leverage: The Strategic Relevance of Multiplication

The Multiplier Effect has significant strategic relevance, particularly in times of “new demands, insufficient resources.” Resource leverage becomes a critical competitive advantage.

The Logic of Addition: Overworked and Underutilized

The dominant logic in corporate planning often assumes that new demands require adding more resources (headcount). This “logic of addition” leads to scenarios where organizations produce “20% more output with 5% more resources,” satisfying neither senior executives nor operational leaders. It results in people being “overworked and underutilized,” as companies pay for resources but only extract a fraction of their capability. The story of Jasper Wallis, a “high-cost Diminisher” who built an empire by rapidly hiring and creating redundant infrastructure, illustrates the immense waste and lost opportunities when leaders operate solely on this logic. His division, despite being 1,000 strong, operated at the productivity of 500 people.

The Logic of Multiplication: Accessing Underutilized Resources

In contrast, the logic of multiplication posits that organizations can achieve higher growth by more efficiently extracting the capability of existing people. Multipliers don’t get “more with less”; they get “more by using more” – more of people’s intelligence, creativity, enthusiasm, and trust. This approach leads to better resource efficiency and a strengthened competitive position. For example, Apple Inc. achieved double-digit year-over-year growth with flat resources by changing its sales model to better leverage existing talent. Salesforce.com also shifted from “throwing resources at a problem” to developing Multiplier leaders to boost productivity from available resources.

The Mind of the Multiplier: Core Assumptions

The fundamental difference between Diminishers and Multipliers lies in their radically different assumptions about people’s intelligence.

The Mind of the Diminisher: Elitism and Scarcity

Diminishers view intelligence as elite and scarce, believing that truly intelligent people are rare and they are among them. This leads to the conclusion that others will never figure things out without them. An “intellectual supremacist” executive, for instance, believed only two out of 20 top managers in his 4,000-person organization had anything worthwhile to offer. Diminishers also see intelligence as static, consistent with Carol Dweck’s “fixed mindset.” Their two-step logic is: “people who don’t ‘get it’ now, never will; therefore, I’ll need to keep doing the thinking for everyone.” This mindset leads them to tell people what to do, make all important decisions, and take over when others appear to fail, thus creating subordination and dependency.

The Mind of the Multiplier: Abundance and Growth

Multipliers have a rich, Technicolor view of intelligence, seeing it as abundant and continually developing, aligning with Dweck’s “growth mindset.” They assume people are smart and capable of contributing at much higher levels. They ask, “In what way is this person smart?” and “What could be done to develop and grow these capabilities?” Multipliers believe that there are smart people everywhere who will figure things out and get even smarter in the process. Their job is to bring the right people together in an environment that liberates everyone’s best thinking, then get out of their way. This leads them to trust their people, extend hard challenges, and allow space for fulfillment, making others smarter in the process.

The Five Disciplines of the Multiplier: Differentiating Practices

Research identified five core disciplines where Multipliers differentiate themselves from Diminishers, regardless of shared traits like customer focus or business acumen. These are:

• Attracting and Optimizing Talent: Multipliers are Talent Magnets who attract and fully deploy talent. Diminishers are Empire Builders who hoard and underutilize resources.
• Creating Intensity that Requires Best Thinking: Multipliers act as Liberators, fostering a safe yet intense environment for bold thinking. Diminishers are Tyrants who introduce fear and judgment, stifling thought.
• Extending Challenges: Multipliers are Challengers who push beyond known limits, seeding opportunities and setting ambitious goals. Diminishers are Know-It-Alls who give directives to showcase their own knowledge.
• Debating Decisions: Multipliers are Debate Makers who drive sound decisions through rigorous, inclusive debate, building collective understanding. Diminishers are Decision Makers who make choices in small inner circles, leaving others in the dark.
• Instilling Ownership and Accountability: Multipliers are Investors who provide resources and ownership, holding people accountable for results. Diminishers are Micromanagers who retain ownership and jump into details, creating dependency.

Surprising Findings: Beyond Conventional Wisdom

The research revealed several counter-intuitive insights about Multipliers:

• They Have a Hard Edge: Multipliers are not “feel-good” managers. They are tough, exacting, and expect great things, driving people to achieve extraordinary results. They look for and utilize people’s full capability, making the experience “exhausting but totally exhilarating.”
• They Don’t Play Small: Multipliers don’t shrink themselves to let others shine. Instead, they play in a way that invites others to play big, leveraging their own intelligence to amplify others. Magic Johnson is an example of a Multiplier who used his talent to elevate his entire team.
• They Have a Great Sense of Humor: Humor is a prominent trait among Multipliers and is negatively correlated with Diminisher mindsets. Multipliers don’t take themselves too seriously, using humor to create comfort and spark natural energy and intelligence, leading to greater productivity and interpersonal effectiveness.
• The Accidental Diminisher: A significant surprise was realizing that most diminishing behavior is unintentional, done by “good people trying to be good managers.” These Accidental Diminishers, praised for their personal intelligence, assume their job is to be the smartest, inadvertently stifling others. Chapter 7 explores these well-meaning but detrimental tendencies.

The Promise of This Book: Becoming a Genius Maker

The book promises that readers can become Multipliers, creating genius around them and receiving a higher contribution from their people. It highlights real-world Multipliers like K.R. Sridhar (green-tech entrepreneur), Alyssa Gallagher (assistant superintendent), Lutz Ziob (Microsoft Learning), Sue Siegel (biotech president), and Larry Gelwix (Highland Rugby coach). The core messages are: Diminishers underutilize people, Multipliers increase intelligence (making people smarter), and Multipliers leverage resources, effectively doubling workforce capacity for free. This book is a guide for managers facing resource strain, aspiring Multipliers, and even Diminishers seeking to understand their impact. It challenges readers to recognize their own potential Diminisher traits and to strive for more “Multiplier moments.”

Chapter Two: The Talent Magnet – How the Best Leaders Attract and Optimize Talent

This chapter delves into the first Multiplier discipline: becoming a Talent Magnet, a leader who not only attracts top talent but fully optimizes their capabilities, preparing them for future growth.

The Empire Builder Versus the Talent Magnet: Two Approaches to Talent Management

Leaders manage talent in fundamentally different ways, creating distinct cycles within their organizations.

A Cycle of Attraction: Mitt Romney and Meg Whitman

Talent Magnets like Mitt Romney (as observed by Meg Whitman at Bain & Company) attract top talent, known as “A players,” because they have a reputation for developing people. Romney took the time to understand each person’s unique capabilities, assigning stretch assignments and fostering growth. He focused on removing “blockers” that hindered success, even loaning talented individuals to other groups for broader exposure. This creates a virtuous cycle: A players are fully utilized, grow into A+ players, gain recognition, seize bigger opportunities (often with the Talent Magnet’s support), and this reputation attracts more A players, ensuring a steady flow of talent.

A Cycle of Decline: Brian Beckham’s Experience

In contrast, Diminishers operate as Empire Builders, hoarding resources and underutilizing talent. They recruit A players but often for self-promotion, leading to disengagement and stagnation. Brian Beckham’s experience working for an Empire Builder SVP highlights this. Despite his brilliance, Brian’s role devolved into “window dressing” as the SVP focused solely on empire growth. Brian’s team became numb, lost good players, and his own reputation was tarnished, leading him to feel “stuck in a dying organization.” Empire Builders earn a reputation as “career killers,” struggling to attract true top talent, and creating a vicious cycle of degeneration where organizations become “elephant graveyards.”

The Talent Magnet: Unleashing Genius Everywhere

A true Talent Magnet can find and grow genius even in “ordinary” people. Hexal AG, a generic drug maker in Germany, exemplifies this. Founders Thomas and Andreas Strüengmann built a \$7.6 billion company by focusing on local talent. They hired for cultural fit rather than just IQ, and instead of rigid job descriptions, they used an “ameba model.” Employees like Ursula, a customer service assistant, were encouraged to pursue ideas (like creating an internet-based workflow system) where they found “energy,” regardless of formal roles. This approach allowed them to utilize people at their highest point of contribution, demonstrating that Multipliers unleash genius throughout the organization.

The Four Practices of the Talent Magnet: How Genius is Found and Unleashed

Talent Magnets employ four key practices to catalyze and sustain the cycle of attraction and growth.

1. Look for Talent Everywhere: Beyond Traditional Measures

Talent Magnets cast a wide net, recognizing that intelligence comes in many forms beyond traditional IQ tests.

• Appreciate All Types of Genius: They understand that genius includes creative, critical, and adaptive abilities, not just quantitative or verbal reasoning. Bill Campbell, former Intuit CEO and advisor to tech giants, exemplified this by readily admitting his own intellectual limitations and appreciating the diverse “genius” of the technologists he coached. He actively asked people to teach him what he didn’t know, demonstrating respect for varied forms of intelligence.
• Ignore Boundaries: Talent Magnets are blind to organizational, hierarchical, and lateral restrictions. They see “talent networks” rather than rigid org charts, believing that “everyone works for them” if their genius can be uncovered. A CEO in Beijing, for instance, would wait outside competitor offices to pick up employees in his Uber, striking up conversations to “hunt for genius,” demonstrating an extreme commitment to finding talent regardless of formal boundaries.

2. Find People’s Native Genius: Effortless and Free Contribution

Talent Magnets excel at uncovering “native genius”—something people do exceptionally well, easily (without extra effort), and freely (without condition or needing to be asked).

• Look for What Is Native: This involves carefully observing people for “spikes of authentic enthusiasm and a natural flow of energy.” Key questions to ask include: “What do they do better than anything else they do?”, “What do they do without effort?”, and “What do they do without being asked?”
• Label It: Native genius can be so instinctive that people are unaware of it. Talent Magnets label this genius for individuals, raising their awareness and confidence. Larry Gelwix, Highland Rugby coach, told a player, John, that he was “fast,” which inspired John to develop a “distinct self-concept” and push beyond his limits, becoming “really fast.” Labeling unlocks discretionary effort and allows individuals to deliberately utilize their unique capabilities.

3. Utilize People at Their Fullest: Connecting Talent to Opportunity

Once native genius is identified, Talent Magnets connect it with opportunities and shine a spotlight on it.

• Connect People with Opportunities: They seek opportunities that demand specific capabilities. Alyssa Gallagher, assistant superintendent, noticed Courtney Cadwell’s “genius for navigating complexity” as a seventh-grade math teacher. Instead of just giving her honors classes, Alyssa tapped Courtney to be the district math coach for a blended learning solution, leveraging her talent to help over 50 teachers implement technology. This connected Courtney’s natural passion to a “big opportunity,” utilizing her at her highest point of contribution.
• Shine a Spotlight: Talent Magnets not only connect talent to opportunities but also publicly acknowledge and praise it. Marguerite Hancock, director of a girls’ camp, meticulously recruits a “dream team” based on individual genius, then introduces each person to the group, labeling their talent (e.g., “Jennifer’s a creative genius…”). She then “goes to the back of the room, takes control of the spotlight, and begins shining it on others,” ensuring their specific contributions are seen and appreciated, which drives deeper engagement and rewarding experiences for the leaders.

4. Remove the Blockers: Eliminating Impediments to Growth

Talent Magnets actively remove impediments, which often means removing individuals who are blocking the growth of others.

• Get Rid of Prima Donnas: Individual genius can be deceptive if it comes at the cost of collective intelligence. K.R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, famously established a rule: “No prima donnas—leave your ego at the door.” When Stefan, an indispensable but uncollaborative scientist, became a blocker, Sridhar chose the team over the individual, removing Stefan despite the technical risk. The team, empowered and united, not only overcame the setback but delivered the product successfully with only a two-day delay, solidifying a culture of collaboration over individual ego. Removing a Diminisher can yield the equivalent of five full-time people on a team of 11.
• Get Out of the Way: Sometimes, the biggest blocker is the leader themselves. Multipliers understand that like a banyan tree, they can inadvertently prevent growth if they provide too much “shade.” A corporate VP’s mantra, “Ignore me as needed to get your job done,” signaled trust and allowed her team to exercise judgment and move rapidly, demonstrating a Multiplier’s willingness to remove themselves as an impediment.

The Diminisher’s Approach to Managing Talent: Empire Building

Diminishers, unlike Talent Magnets, operate from the belief that “People need to report to me in order to get them to do anything.” They are owners of talent, not developers.

• Acquiring Resources: Empire Builders are obsessed with acquiring resources and slotting them into visible organizational structures under their control. Jasper Wallis, from Chapter 1, built an empire with a separate office tower and redundant infrastructure, obsessed with the size of his organization. This led to a “gangly” and inefficient organization that eventually collapsed.
• Putting People in Boxes: Empire Builders use a “divide and conquer” approach, carving out narrow “fiefdoms” for great talent but discouraging them from stepping beyond these walls. They maintain control by being the sole point of integration, often operating through one-on-one meetings or using staff meetings as mere “report-out” sessions. One manager made key decisions only with a single confidant, leading to a “covert and high-stakes game” among lieutenants vying for influence.
• Letting Talent Languish: Empire Builders stifle talent by hogging the limelight and taking credit. More insidiously, they are passive about growing talent, often oblivious to their team’s development. In quantitative research, “developing the talent of the team” was among the lowest three skills of a Diminisher. They also fail to “clear away the dead wood,” slowly disabling ineffective leaders rather than removing them, creating “walking dead” employees who “quit and stay.” This makes Diminishers costly, as assets in their portfolio do not increase in value.

Becoming a Talent Magnet: Cultivating Genius Everywhere

To become a Talent Magnet, leaders must actively cultivate their ability to see, name, and utilize the genius in everyone.

• Name the Genius: Kick-start the cycle of attraction by identifying and labeling the “native genius” (what people do easily and freely) of each individual. This can be done individually or as a team. For example, instead of asking “Is this person smart?”, ask “In what way is this person smart?” This shifts assumptions and uncovers hidden capabilities.
• Supersize It: Give people jobs that are “a size too big,” like buying shoes for a growing child. Assess their current capabilities and then assign a challenge that requires them to stretch. Acknowledge that it might feel awkward initially, then step back and allow them to “grow into them.” This incites growth and develops new capabilities.
• Let Go of a Superstar: The best leaders know when a superstar has outgrown their environment and needs a bigger challenge elsewhere. While difficult, encouraging top players to move on (like parents sending a child to college) is essential for their continued growth. These celebrated departures become the Talent Magnet’s best recruiting tool, attracting more top talent. Sue Siegel, a Multiplier, described her “best moments” as seeing team members “brimming with enthusiasm, having grown through the challenge,” even if it meant they moved on.

Chapter Three: The Liberator – How the Best Leaders Create Intensity That Requires Best Thinking

This chapter explores the second Multiplier discipline: the Liberator. These leaders create an intense yet safe environment that frees people to think, speak, and act with reason, enabling the best ideas to surface and optimal work to be done.

The Tyrant Versus the Liberator: Two Climates for Thinking

Leaders create vastly different work environments that either suppress or unleash intelligence.

A Tense Leader: Jenna Healy’s Tyranny

Jenna Healy, an SVP of field operations, exemplified a Tyrant. Despite her intelligence and experience, she created an “environment of hysteria” filled with fear and intimidation. Her primary approach was “What more can you do for me?” and she was known for unpredictable outbursts and public berating. In a meeting, she snapped at a manager, Daniel, for a simple question, causing others to “freeze with fear” and water down their presentations. This tense climate led to modest progress and a failure to hit targets. Jenna’s behavior ultimately led to her rapid exit from the organization, demonstrating how intimidation rarely produces truly great work.

An Intense Leader: Robert Enslin’s Calm Confidence

In contrast, Robert Enslin, President of Global Customer Operations for SAP AG, operates as a Liberator. He is highly respected for his calm confidence and ability to grow organizations. Robert is “accessible to all” and operates as a peer, fostering transparency and safety. When he took over the struggling Japanese subsidiary, he didn’t dictate solutions but initiated a learning process, asking, “How can we take this to the next level?” During the 2008 global economic meltdown, he maintained calmness and constancy within his North American business, keeping the team focused on controllable issues and asking questions that forced deep thinking. His team felt he was “hard on the issues but easy on people,” creating an “aura that we’re in this together.” This intense, yet safe, environment enables the team to perform sanity and stability amidst chaos.

The Liberator: Creating the Conditions for Intelligence to Flourish

Liberators create conditions where intelligence is engaged, grown, and transformed into success. This includes ease of idea generation, rapid learning, collaboration, and effective problem-solving.

Liberator No. 1: Equity in the Firm with Ernest Bachrach

Ernest Bachrach, director and special partner for Advent International, creates a “learning machine” in his organization. He encourages forums for ideas but demands data-backed opinions. His feedback is direct but delivered in manageable doses, allowing absorption and adjustment. He teaches that mistakes are “a way of life” in investment, ensuring that when collective decisions lead to errors, “no one person takes the blame.” This environment leverages investments in people, enabling them to learn and adjust.

Liberator No. 2: Close Encounters with Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg, the award-winning film director, is a Multiplier who elicits optimal work from his crew. He knows everyone’s job intimately but doesn’t do it for them, instead setting a high standard based on his admiration for their work. He establishes an open, creative environment where “all good ideas start as bad ideas,” making it safe to experiment. Yet, he still demands extraordinary work, ensuring his crew is twice as productive as those of “Tyrant directors.” His crew consistently signs up to work with him again, enabling him to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Liberator No. 3: A Master Teacher, Patrick Kelly

Patrick Kelly, an eighth-grade US history teacher, creates a professional and serious classroom where students are expected to work hard, think, and learn. He doesn’t tolerate laziness and encourages students to speak up and voice opinions. His expectations are “both clear and extremely high,” believing that “with high expectations come high results.” Students are encouraged to do “independent study” rather than assigned homework, leading to zealous engagement. Despite being perceived as “tough” by some, 98% of his students score “proficient” or “advanced” on state tests, demonstrating how he liberates students to think and learn.

The Three Practices of the Liberator: How to Unleash Brainpower

Liberators employ three common practices to engage the full brainpower of their organizations.

1. Create Space: Allowing Others to Contribute

Liberators deliberately carve out space for others to contribute and work.

• Release Others by Restraining Yourself: They resist the temptation to jump in and consume the space themselves. Ray Lane, former Oracle president, is a master of “executive restraint.” On sales calls, he allows the sales team to lead, offering his insights only in “small but intense doses” after listening carefully. This creates room for others and enhances the potency of his own contributions.
• Shift the Ratio of Listening to Talking: Liberators are “ferocious listeners” who listen to learn what others know, massively shifting the ratio of listening to talking. John Brandon, an Apple Inc. sales executive, spends 80% of his time listening and asking probing questions in one-on-one meetings. This deep understanding of market realities and team challenges has enabled his organization to achieve 375% growth over five years.
• Define a Space for Discovery: Liberators define areas where experimentation and potential failure are acceptable. John Hoke, Nike Inc.’s chief of global design, helped his team define a “playground” where they could struggle and fail without harming stakeholders. This led to “risk and iterate” performance goals, legitimizing failure as “prototyping” and empowering designers to tackle “scary problems,” as demonstrated by Casey Lehner’s team.
• Level the Playing Field: In hierarchical organizations, Liberators actively amplify the voices of those lower down the hierarchy. Mark Dankberg, CEO of ViaSat Inc., operates with the assumption that “wisdom doesn’t just come from the top; it comes from all across the organization.” He encourages even first-year engineers to speak up and ensures their ideas are heard, as exemplified by a junior attorney, Keven, whose opinion mattered to the CEO in a three-hour debate.

2. Demand People’s Best Work: Beyond Mediocrity

Liberators don’t just create space; they expect extraordinary work in return.

• Defend the Standard: They push people to perform beyond their previous limits. Henry Kissinger famously asked his chief of staff, “Is this your best work?” until he received a report truly representing the chief’s best effort. Larry Gelwix, the Highland Rugby coach, consistently asks, “Did you give your best?” pushing players to commit their full physical and mental effort, leading to breakthroughs like a player scoring in Tonga despite injury.
• Distinguish Best Work from Outcomes: Liberators create positive pressure by holding people accountable for their best effort, not for outcomes beyond their control. K.R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, has “zero tolerance if someone does not run the experiment,” but doesn’t hold them accountable for the outcome. This distinction allows his organization to take risks and innovate across complex technologies.

3. Generate Rapid Learning Cycles: Embracing Mistakes

Liberators prioritize learning, especially from mistakes.

• Admit and Share Mistakes: They openly confess their own mistakes, demonstrating “intellectual curiosity for why things didn’t work out.” Lutz Ziob, General Manager of Microsoft Learning, shamelessly tells stories about his unsuccessful products, making it safe for others to take risks and fail.
• Insist on Learning from Mistakes: Lutz creates room for mistakes but expects rapid learning. When a risky promotion failed, his manager, Chris Pirie, admitted the misstep, diagnosed it, and tried something different. Lutz insists on feedback, even asking direct reports to tell him if he’s “sucking the oxygen out of the room.” This fosters an agile organization where it’s “okay to fail, you just can’t make the same mistake twice.”

The Diminisher’s Approach to Environment: Tyranny and Suppression

Diminishers create a tense environment by swinging between militant insistence on their ideas and passive indifference.

• Dominate the Space: Tyrants consume all available space, dominating meetings and hogging airtime with strong opinions. Garth Yamamoto, a chief marketing officer, “uses up almost every cubic inch of space,” interrupting and overexpressing his views, leading to team members feeling “atrophying” and contributing only 50% of their capability.
• Create Anxiety: The hallmark of a Tyrant is temperamental and unpredictable behavior. People walk on eggshells, incurring an “anxiety tax” where mental energy is consumed trying to avoid upsetting the Tyrant. Timothy Wilson, a Hollywood property master, created a tense set by publicly criticizing props and having unpredictable outbursts, leading to wasted productivity as staff worried about his reactions.
• Judge Others: Tyrants centralize power and act as “judge, jury, and executioner,” creating cycles of criticism, judgment, and retreat. Like the Japanese saying, “The stake that sticks out gets hammered down,” people retreat to safe ideas to avoid criticism, leading to suppressed thinking and mediocre work.

Becoming a Liberator: Cultivating Intentional Leadership

Becoming a Liberator requires a long-term commitment to intentional leadership.

• Play Fewer Chips: To create more room for others, especially if prone to dominating discussions, use the “poker chips” exercise. Assign yourself a budget of comments or talk time in a meeting. Matthew, a smart but over-talking leader, limited himself to five comments in a critical forum, leading to a co-created strategy and increased credibility. This practice encourages filtering thoughts for only the most essential contributions.
• Label Your Opinions: Distinguish between “soft opinions” (ideas for others to consider) and “hard opinions” (strong, emphatic views). This, as Michael Chang learned, creates space for others to disagree with soft opinions and establish their own views, reserving hard opinions for when they truly matter.
• Talk Up Your Mistakes: Sharing stories about your own mistakes, especially how you learned and recovered, invites experimentation and learning. Patrick Kelly’s students learned from his occasional mistakes, and my own “screwup of the week” ritual normalized failure as “an essential part of progress.” This helps people learn and recover with dignity.
• Make Space for Mistakes: Define areas where it’s “okay to fail” versus “not okay to fail,” like a ship’s “waterline.” Above the waterline, experimentation is safe; below it, mistakes are catastrophic. This clarity gives teams confidence to take bold action while signaling diligence where stakes are high. Nike’s design community adopted this, leading to “risk and iterate” goals where designers felt empowered to “lean into the tension and take risks.”

Chapter Four: The Challenger – How the Best Leaders Extend Challenges That Accelerate Growth

This chapter explores the third Multiplier discipline: The Challenger. These leaders use their intelligence to find the right opportunities and stretch their organizations to new heights, going beyond what they themselves know to achieve the seemingly impossible.

The Know-It-All Versus the Challenger: Two Approaches to Direction Setting

Leaders set direction in fundamentally different ways, impacting their organization’s ability to grow and adapt.

Raising the Bar: Matt McCauley at Gymboree

Matt McCauley, the young CEO of Gymboree, exemplifies a Challenger. Drawing on his pole-vaulting background, he set a high bar for the company’s net income, proposing \$1.00 per share (a 72% improvement) when the board laughed. He then asked each person in the 9,500-person organization to define their own “Mission Impossible” goal. By setting an impossible-sounding goal and inviting collective ownership, he ignited a charge to rethink the business, leading to actual achievements of \$1.19 per share and later \$3.21 per share (a nearly fivefold increase in four years). Matt’s approach used his knowledge to see opportunity, then challenged others to explore the impossible.

An Army of Pawns: Richard Palmer at SMT Systems

In contrast, Richard Palmer, founder of SMT Systems and a chess champion, operated as a Know-It-All. He assumed his job was to know the most and tell others what to do. He used “Gotcha” questions to test others’ knowledge and “Stalls” (like making his sales team read a 500-page manual) to appear knowledgeable. He was the “chief genius” who sold his ideas relentlessly, leading to an “army of pawns” who shrunk in his presence. Talented people either “quit and stay” or left, because the organization was limited by the founder’s own knowledge, preventing it from becoming a “serious company.”

The Mind of a Multiplier: Questioning Assumptions

The difference lies in core assumptions. Richard’s logic was: “I need to have all the answers,” leading him to test others and provide directives. This creates a “Know-It-All spiral” where the leader provides answers, subordinates wait for directives, act on them, and the leader concludes, “they would never have figured this out without me.” Matt’s logic, however, was: “people get smarter and stronger by being challenged.” He focused on asking bold questions and parsing challenges into increments. When a leader doesn’t need to have all the answers, they are free to ask much bigger, more provocative questions, pushing the organization to explore the unknown.

The Challenger: Orchestrating Collective Will

Challengers don’t just set direction; they use their intelligence to find opportunities, challenge the organization, and build collective will and energy.

Ray’s Revolution: Oracle’s Internet Strategy

Ray Lane, then Oracle’s president, faced the challenge of defining the company’s internet strategy. Initial attempts to tell the top 250 leaders the strategy resulted in confusion and “all-out revolt.” Ray and the executive team then fundamentally shifted their approach: they stopped telling and started asking. On the Fourth of July, they regrouped and decided to share fundamental questions, trends, and assumptions, presenting a framework of four key business transformations. They challenged groups of leaders to “fill in the blanks,” taking two days to examine, identify milestones, and pinpoint implications. This iterative process involved every SVP and VP, who “took their task seriously, turning the strategy upside down and sideways.” The culmination was a “Convention” where the strategic intent was unveiled, manifesting the collective will of the organization. Oracle subsequently more than doubled its revenues from \$4.2 billion to \$10.1 billion in four years.

The Three Practices of the Challenger: Engaging Full Brainpower

Challengers employ three specific practices to engage the full brainpower of their organization:

1. Seed the Opportunity: Provoking Discovery

Multipliers understand that people grow through challenge and that intelligence grows by being stretched. They provide just enough information to provoke thinking and help people discover opportunities for themselves.

• Show the Need: Allow others to discover the need for themselves. Irene Fisher, director of the Bennion Center, invited University of Utah students into inner-city communities to “see the issues for themselves.” This firsthand exposure made them “passionate and curious about how to create change,” leading them to take on increasingly challenging roles.
• Challenge the Assumptions: Multipliers ask questions that disrupt prevailing logic and challenge fundamental organizational assumptions. C.K. Prahalad famously challenged Philips corporation’s “assumed invincibility” by presenting a fictitious New York Times article forecasting their bankruptcy, then asking, “What market changes could lead to a bankruptcy?” This rattled their beliefs and forced exploration.
• Reframe Problems: Multipliers reframe problems as opportunities. Alan G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, shifted the mindset from “invent-it-themselves” to “proudly invented elsewhere.” By reframing innovation from internal R&D to external partnerships, P&G developed products like printed Pringles in half the time and at a fraction of the cost, leading to double-digit growth.
• Create a Starting Point: Multipliers provide a skeleton, not a complete solution, generating more questions than answers. Ray Lane and Oracle executives created a strategic framework skeleton, then asked leaders to systematically and collaboratively “complete the whole strategy,” shifting the burden of thinking and sparking intellectual curiosity.

2. Lay Down a Challenge: Creating Intriguing Tension

Once an opportunity is seeded, Multipliers establish a challenge that creates a significant stretch for the organization, generating tension and intrigue.

• Extend a Concrete Challenge: Multipliers make challenges tangible and measurable. Sean Mendy, senior director at Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, gave Taji, a shy 12-year-old, specific challenges like writing for the school paper and competing for “Scholar of the Year” (which she won). He then asked her, “If you could get out of this environment, what would you do?” leading to her goal of attending college and securing full scholarships to four prep schools. Mendy’s concrete challenges helped youth raise their aspirations.
• Ask the Hard Questions: Multipliers ask questions so immense that people cannot answer them with current knowledge, creating a vacuum between what is known and what needs to be known. Matt McCauley’s “What would be your Mission Impossible?” question for each Gymboree employee created this forward pull.
• Let Others Fill In the Blanks: Multipliers shift the burden of thinking to others. The CEO of a Korean consumer electronics company, aiming to be #1 in the market, asked his management team, “Why are we in this business?” and “What would it take to be better than our competition?” He then maintained a tight timeframe (“30% answer in two days”) but let the team generate the answers, building their intellectual muscle and energy.

3. Generate Belief: Making the Impossible Possible

Multipliers generate belief that the impossible is actually possible, inspiring movement beyond just interest.

• Helicopter Down: K.R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy, explains that a direction must be “improbable but not impossible.” Leaders must “take it down” to the “1,000 foot level” to show a pathway and demonstrate why it can be done. This creates a meaningful proof point that a bold challenge can be met.
• Cocreate the Plan: When people create the plan they will implement, belief in its viability is inherently high. Oracle’s 250 senior leaders cocreated the corporate strategy, leading to “overwhelming enthusiasm and optimism” and a deep understanding of the necessary actions, building collective will and energy for execution.
• Orchestrate an Early Win: Multipliers start with small, early wins to build belief towards greater challenges. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Prize winner, started the Green Belt movement by asking Nairobi women to “plant trees” for firewood. From seven original trees in 1977, the movement planted over 40 million trees in Africa, demonstrating how small, achievable steps can generate belief for massive change.

The Diminisher’s Approach to Setting Direction: Telling and Testing

Diminishers set direction by showcasing their superior knowledge, limiting what their organization can achieve.

• Telling What They Know: Diminishers consider themselves thought leaders and readily share their knowledge, often “selling” their ideas rather than learning what others know. One European manager “took up all the oxygen in the room,” talking endlessly about his ideas and never asking a direct report a question in ten years.
• Testing What You Know: When Diminishers engage others, it’s often to verify understanding or make a point. They are “masters of the Gotcha question,” asking questions they already know the answer to, leaving people stressed but “unstretched.”
• Telling People How to Do Their Jobs: Rather than shifting responsibility, Diminishers remain in charge, giving detailed instructions. Chip Maxwell, an executive producer, constantly interfered with his world-class team, routinely bypassing the director to tell staff “exactly how to do their jobs,” leading to the abrupt resignation of his director of photography.
• Diminishers Create Idle Cycles: Diminishers cause resource drain because their organizations are limited by the leader’s knowledge. A vice president, working for a Know-It-All, found himself “idle most of the time,” waiting for decisions and feeling “bored,” relegated to “easy sailing” instead of “high-speed battle.” This “fire drill” of figuring out what the boss thinks consumes capacity.

Becoming a Challenger: Cultivating Curiosity

Becoming a Challenger begins with cultivating “Intellectual Curiosity”—the highest-rated practice for Multipliers. This involves an insatiable need for deep organizational understanding and pondering possibilities.

• Take the Extreme Questions Challenge: Instead of answering questions, solely lead a conversation using only questions. My own experiment with my children, asking only questions during their bedtime routine, revealed they knew how to do much more than I thought. This exercise helps shift from “answer mode” to “question mode,” revealing the team’s existing knowledge.
• Create a Stretch Challenge: Give your team a “mission impossible”—a hard, concrete challenge with constraints (e.g., “accomplish X by Y date, with only Z resources”). This prompts deep learning and growth, making the experience “exhausting but totally exhilarating.” Jason Grodman, a government employee, challenged his inspection team to complete 1,000 inspections in 2016 (up from 750), leading to increased engagement and likely exceeding the goal.
• Take a Bus Trip: Like Tom Tiller at GE Appliances who took 40 managers to the Atlanta Kitchen and Bath Show, or Irene Fisher who brought students to the inner city, take your team on a “bus trip” to experience a need firsthand. This creates a learning experience that reveals needs, ignites energy, and sparks a fire within the organization.
• Take a Massive Baby Step: Instead of pilots that only get management’s attention, orchestrate a small, visible, en masse early win. Get the entire organization to take a small first step together, so everyone can see the results and begin to believe that something great is possible. This builds collective belief and shifts the organization’s weight toward the challenge.

Chapter Five: The Debate Maker – How the Best Leaders Debate Decisions to Drive Collective Intelligence

This chapter introduces the fourth Multiplier discipline: The Debate Maker. These leaders drive sound decisions by engaging people in rigorous debate, which not only ensures better outcomes but also develops collective intelligence and prepares the organization for efficient execution.

The Decision Maker Versus the Debate Maker: Two Approaches to High-Stakes Choices

How leaders make decisions profoundly impacts how they leverage resources.

Jonathan Akers: The Decision Maker’s Spin Cycle

Jonathan Akers, a VP of corporate planning, was tasked with developing a new pricing model for a competitive mid-market space. He assembled a task force with deep expertise but failed to clarify their role or how decisions would be made. Jonathan dominated meetings with his own biases, gathering data but allowing no debate. The task force became a mere audience for his ideas, and the final decision was announced via email, made by a “select few behind closed doors.” This led to disillusionment, a reputation as a “time waster,” and a “spin cycle” where the company stalled in the mid-market, wasting the brainpower of the assembled team.

Arjan Mengerink: The Debate Maker’s Civic Discourse

In contrast, Arjan Mengerink, District Police Chief in the Netherlands, learned from a failed reorganization (“plans were brilliant, but they were conceived in a club and not discussed with the staff”). For a new reorganization, he took a new approach, inviting 100 employees from a cross-section of the organization (from lawyer to agent) to participate in “debate sessions.” His team presented ideas, and employees voiced agreement, shot down, and debated, bringing diverse perspectives. This process led to better thought-out plans and ensured that police employees became co-owners, refining and believing in the plan because they had cocreated it.

The Debate Maker: Harnessing Full Brainpower Through Rigorous Dialogue

Multipliers approach decisions by bringing people together, discovering what they know, and encouraging challenges and stretches through collective dialogue.

Lutz Ziob: Microsoft Learning’s Debate-Driven Strategy

Lutz Ziob, General Manager of Microsoft Learning, faced the high-stakes decision of whether to pivot his \$300 million education business from corporate training to the academic sector. Despite his vast knowledge, Lutz had a “bias for debate.” He gathered his diverse leadership team and framed the issue with big questions: “Should we refocus our entire business on the academic market?” and “What would success require?” He set broad parameters for the debates, insisting, “Everyone should feel not only welcome to speak up, but an obligation to speak up.” He sparked rigorous debate by asking people to “switch sides” and argue against their stated positions or assume roles outside their functional area. This “high-stakes approach to a high-stakes decision” led to the organization successfully expanding its reach from 1,500 corporate partners to 4,700 academic partners in just two years, becoming a profitable business.

The Three Practices of the Debate Maker: Crafting Sound Decisions

Multipliers employ three specific practices for decision-making:

1. Frame the Issue: Preparing for Deliberation

The secret to a great decision is what the leader does before the debate. They prepare the organization by forming the right questions and team, then framing the issues and process clearly.

• The Question: Define the specific decision to be made, ideally with clear, often mutually exclusive, options. Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, emphasizes that “the most important role we can play is asking the right questions.”
• The Why: Explain why the question is important and warrants collective input and debate.
• The Who: Identify who will be involved in making the decision and providing input.
• The How: Clarify how the final decision will be made (e.g., majority rule, consensus, or leader’s final call after input).
• Preparation: Give people time to prepare and assemble their thinking, often requiring them to come with a clearly thought-through point of view and supporting evidence. This framing acts like a “surgical drape,” focusing the team’s energy and preventing “spinning” on tangential issues, leveraging more capability.

2. Spark the Debate: Cultivating Engagement and Rigor

After framing, Multipliers spark the debate, ensuring it is engaging, comprehensive, fact-based, and educational. This involves a duality of creating safety and demanding rigor.

• The Yin: Create Safety for Best Thinking: Multipliers remove fear by allowing discussion to happen before expressing their own strong opinions. Amit, a senior manager, creates safety by letting discussion unfold before he speaks and being “brutally honest if something doesn’t make sense” without personal attacks. Jennifer, another executive, intentionally holds her views until the end to give her team space to express theirs.
• The Yang: Demand Rigor: Multipliers demand rigor by challenging conventional thinking and asking for evidence. Jim Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape, famously said, “If you don’t have any facts, we’ll just use my opinion,” emphasizing the need for data. The CEO of a European online distribution company demanded his team pore over data, country by country, to support their ideas, preventing them from relying on intuition.
• Sue Siegel’s Rigorous Recall Decision: Sue Siegel, former president of Affymetrix, faced a critical decision: recall a product with potentially inaccurate results. Instead of relying solely on her own expertise, she reached deep into the organization for data and insight. She convened a forum across multiple management layers, framed the issue, and then asked for data and recommendations, leading to a two-day rigorous debate on customer, legal, and financial impacts. The team decided to recall the product, and with the staff unified behind the decision, Affymetrix quickly rebounded, building deep customer relationships and exceeding market expectations.
• Switching Sides: Debate Makers ensure all sides are explored. Lutz Ziob famously asked team members to “switch sides” and argue against their initial positions, forcing them to see issues from other perspectives, surface pitfalls in their own arguments, and find new alternatives. This depersonalizes the final decision, making it collectively owned.

3. Drive a Sound Decision: Ensuring Action and Understanding

Multipliers pursue debate with a clear end: a sound decision that is understood and can be executed efficiently.

• Reclarify the Decision-Making Process: After debate, Multipliers summarize key ideas and outcomes, clarifying next steps, who will make the final decision, and if the process has changed. This ensures people know their effort won’t be wasted.
• Make the Decision: Multipliers are not always consensus-oriented; they are equally comfortable making the final decision or explicitly delegating it, as long as it’s practical and within someone’s domain.
• Communicate the Decision and Rationale: Rigorous debate builds the business case and momentum for execution. Lutz Ziob’s “Theater” conference room allowed anyone in the organization to observe debates, leading to better understanding and readiness to execute. This transparent decision-making model ensures that when decisions are reached, the organization is prepared to move forward.

The Diminisher’s Approach to Debate: Forcing and Spinning

Diminishers make decisions quickly, often based on their own opinions or a small inner circle, leading to organizational “spinning” rather than execution.

• Raise Issues: Diminishers bring issues to attention but don’t frame them for contribution, focusing on “what” rather than “how” or “why.” One CIO “raised a variety of distracting issues” at staff meetings, making “a millimeter of progress in a million directions.”
• Dominate the Discussion: Diminishers are debaters, not Debate Makers, dominating discussions with their own ideas. Jonathan Akers “dominated the discussions with his opinions and shut down the intelligence—and drive—of the players he had assembled.”
• Force the Decision: Diminishers force decisions, relying on their opinion or shortcutting debate. An executive, after dominating a discussion, declared, “I think we’re all in agreement that we should centralize this function on a global level,” despite clear disagreement, leading to resentment rather than buy-in.
• Resource Drain: Diminishers cause resource drain because their approach only utilizes a small number of people and ignores rigorous debate. This leaves the broader organization “in the dark,” debating the “soundness of a decision” rather than executing it. This idled capacity leads them to ask for more resources, wondering why they aren’t more productive.

Becoming a Debate Maker: The Power of Questions and Evidence

Becoming a Debate Maker requires a fundamental shift in assumptions, often viewing the leader’s role as asking the right questions rather than having all the answers.

• Make a Debate: Identify an important decision requiring rigorous thinking. Frame the issue, prepare the team, and lead the debate with a sound process, not forceful ideas.
• Ask the Hard Question: Ask questions that get at the core of the issue and underlying assumptions. Pose the question and then stop, asking for others’ views rather than offering your own. My experience as a Junior Great Books discussion leader taught me to ask questions and insist on evidence, leading to deep student engagement.
• Ask for Evidence: Don’t let opinions rest on anecdote. Insist on data, trends, or clusters of information. Make it a norm for people to come to debates “armed with the data.”
• Ask Everyone: Reach beyond dominant voices to gather all views and data. Analytical minds often have objective data.
• Ask People to Switch Positions: Invite people to consider the issue from another point of view. This reduces personal attachment, increases collective ownership, and surfaces new alternatives, as demonstrated by Lutz Ziob.

Chapter Six: The Investor – How the Best Leaders Instill Ownership and Accountability

This chapter explores the fifth Multiplier discipline: The Investor. These leaders enable others to operate independently by giving them ownership of results and infusing them with the resources they need to succeed, even in the leader’s absence.

The Micromanager Versus the Investor: Two Approaches to Execution

Leaders approach execution in ways that either create dependence or foster independence.

Larry Gelwix: The Investor’s “Forever Strong” Team

Larry Gelwix, the Highland Rugby coach, faced a team lacking physical stamina. Instead of taking over, he “turned this over to the captains.” He clearly defined the challenge (win nationals in six weeks by improving endurance) and gave the captains complete ownership. He stayed and answered their questions, then left them to figure it out. The captains developed a solution: dividing the team into small groups with subgroup leaders accountable to the captains. This led to the team becoming “one of the fittest” and winning the national championship, demonstrating how investing in ownership creates self-sufficient, high-performing organizations.

Marcus Dolan: The Micromanager’s “Calling Every Play”

In stark contrast, Marcus Dolan, a high school coach, was a Micromanager who wanted to control every aspect of his team. He forbade captains from holding practice without him and “called every play for every player” during games. This micromanagement stifled initiative, making players dependent and unable to adapt. His team lost every game, and he was later elected the “most losing coach in high school sports history.” Eight of his players eventually left to play for Larry Gelwix, illustrating how micromanagement cripples capability.

Running onto the Field: Why Managers Take Over

When stakes are high, many managers “run onto the playing field” to “steal the ball” and score the winning goal themselves, unlike a soccer coach who stays on the sidelines. This happens because it’s not “illegal” in organizations, and managers are tempted by the immediate “win” or to “rescue” struggling employees. This prevents employees from learning and growing. Multipliers understand their role is to invest, teach, and coach, keeping accountability with the players to create organizations that can win without their direct involvement.

The Investor: Creating Organizations That Deliver Without Direct Involvement

Investors define ownership upfront and infuse others with the resources and confidence they need to produce results independently.

Ela Bhatt: The Serial Multiplier of SEWA

Ela Bhatt (Elaben), founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India, built a union of 1.2 million self-employed women by embodying the Investor discipline. Instead of holding onto power, she insisted on turning over leadership to new, younger members. She personally invested time in educating members about the democratic process, fostering political literacy. She mentored leaders like Jyoti Macwan, a former cigarette-rolling worker who became the English-speaking general secretary. Each time Elaben established an institution (SEWA, a bank, housing trusts, etc.), she invested in future leaders and stepped away from operational management, allowing them to assume greater ownership and solve complex problems independently. Her motto: “A leader is someone who helps others lead.” Elaben became a “Serial Multiplier,” replicating the effect again and again.

The Three Practices of the Investor: Building Independence and Accountability

Investors employ three key practices to drive results and build independent, capable organizations:

1. Defining Ownership: Establishing Clear Responsibility

Investors begin by establishing clear ownership, putting people in charge and defining what they are expected to build.

• Name the Lead: Clearly define roles and give individuals “51 percent of the vote” (and 100% responsibility for the result) in their areas of accountability. John Chambers, former Cisco CEO, gave his VPs 51% of the vote, allowing them to make decisions while keeping him informed. This creates certainty, builds confidence, and ensures accountability rests with the individual.
• Give Ownership for the End Goal: Instead of assigning piecemeal tasks, give people ownership for the entire end goal. In the “Big Picture” exercise, teams given only a small piece of a painting optimized their part but struggled to create a unified whole. When given the full picture, they stretch their thinking to optimize the whole.
• Stretch the Role: Multipliers incite growth by asking people to do something they’ve never done before. Eleanor Schaffner Mosh (Booz Allen Hamilton), Mike Hagan (multinational company), and Polly Sumner (Oracle) all worked for Ray Lane, who consistently gave them roles “one—and occasionally two—levels up” beyond their current capabilities. This “bigger role creates a vacuum that must be filled,” fostering tremendous growth.

2. Investing Resources: Providing Knowledge and Support

Once ownership is established, Investors infuse individuals with the knowledge and resources needed for success.

• Teach and Coach: Investors “grab the pen” not to do the work, but to teach and coach. Jae Choi at McKinsey helps teams solve problems by offering insights and asking the right questions, then hands the pen back. K.R. Sridhar at Bloom Energy uses a Socratic method, asking thought-provoking questions (“What do we know about what doesn’t work?”) to help his team solve technical setbacks, even when he knows the solution. This invests in their future problem-solving ability.
• Provide Backup: When people are stretched, they will trip up. Investors ensure there’s a safety net—a planned backup, often a colleague, who can provide guidance without judgment. This allows the individual to recover gracefully without the manager usurping control.

3. Holding People Accountable: Sustaining Independence

Investors maintain accountability, understanding it’s essential for extraordinary growth.

• Give It Back: Investors get involved but continually give back leadership and accountability. John Wookey at Salesforce, a veteran in software development, offers suggestions and discusses trade-offs in user interface review meetings, then asks the team to “go back to their ‘lab’ and figure it out.” He “gives the pen back,” signaling engagement without taking charge. Michael Clarke at Flextronics uses the phrase, “You’re smart. You figure it out,” to validate ideas and return the onus for solving issues.
• Expect Complete Work: Multipliers never do anything for their people that their people can do for themselves. Inspired by Kerry Patterson’s demand for an “F-I-X” (fix) when I noted an “AWK” (awkward) sentence in his writing, I learned to expect solutions, not just problems. This encourages people to complete their thinking and exercise intellectual muscles.
• Respect Natural Consequences: Investors allow people to experience the natural consequences of their actions, as nature teaches best. When my 3-year-old son, Christian, kept venturing too far into the ocean, I allowed a mid-size wave to topple him, teaching him to respect the ocean’s power more effectively than my warnings. Protecting people from natural ramifications stunts their learning and signals a lack of belief in their ability to figure things out.

The Diminisher’s Approach to Execution: Micromanagement and Dependency

Diminishers believe, “People will never be able to figure it out without me,” which breeds dependency and leads to organizations that fall apart when they leave.

• Maintain Ownership: Micromanagers don’t trust others, so they maintain ownership, doling out piecemeal tasks rather than real responsibility. Eva Wiesel, an operations manager, would arrive at work and immediately give her team “marching orders” for the day, leading them to line up and wait to be told what to do, effectively hoarding the work.
• Jump In and Out: Micromanagers are like “bungee bosses,” lured by “shiny objects” (emergent problems or big hurdles) where they can play the hero. They jump in, take over, and then spring back out when the “fun is over.” Garth Yamamoto, a chief marketing officer, was “all over it” for CEO-visible issues but “completely absent” for less visible, critical projects, creating dependency and disengagement.
• Take It Back: Managers who “take it back” from their team end up doing all the work, robbing others of the opportunity to use and extend their intelligence. This stunts growth and leads to the manager asking, “Why does it all come back to me?”
• Costly Micromanagement: Celso, a private equity investor in Brazil, exemplified this. His “control-freak management style” stifled his organization. He’d scream at CEOs over sales dips and was always the first to jump in and “fix it himself.” This created a division where talent retreated or aggressive, inexperienced graduates were hired. Micromanagers, even if superstars themselves, become a bottleneck, limiting growth and leaving talent idle.

Becoming an Investor: Cultivating Serial Multipliers

To become a Serial Multiplier, leaders must shift from an addiction to praise to an addiction to growth—both of the business and the people.

• Give 51 Percent of the Vote: When delegating, explicitly tell people they are in charge and accountable, giving them a concrete number like “51% of the vote.” This creates certainty and builds confidence, allowing them to seek “second opinions” rather than second-guessing themselves.
• Let Nature Take Its Course: Allow people to experience the natural consequences of their actions, whether successes or “smaller waves” of failure that provide teaching moments without catastrophe. This helps people learn most rapidly and profoundly, communicating that the manager believes they are smart enough to figure things out.
• Ask for the F-I-X: When someone brings a problem, resist the urge to fix it. Instead, ask them to provide a solution (the “F-I-X”). Use coaching questions like, “What solution(s) do you see to this problem?” This encourages them to complete their thinking and stretch their intellectual muscles.
• Give It Back: When helping a struggling team member, offer help, but have an “exit plan.” Symbolically “hand the pen back” to signal that you are interested and engaged but not in charge. Statements like, “You are still the lead on this,” or “I’m here to back you up,” ensure accountability remains with them.

Chapter Seven: The Accidental Diminisher – When Good Intentions Lead to Unintentional Diminishing

This chapter delves into the phenomenon of the Accidental Diminisher: well-intentioned leaders whose efforts to help, teach, or lead inadvertently stifle the intelligence and capability of others. It highlights common behaviors that, despite positive intent, have a diminishing impact.

The Accidental Diminisher: The Paradox of Good Intentions

The vast majority of diminishing in workplaces is done by Accidental Diminishers—good people who believe they are leading effectively. Their best intentions can surprisingly hinder others. The story of Sally, a veteran principal, and Marcus, her assistant principal, illustrates this. Sally, wanting to help Marcus with a critical data analysis, offered escalating levels of “help” (instructions, tutorials, joint work), only to be told by Marcus: “Sally, I think I could use… just a little less help from you.” Sally’s desire to protect and ensure success inadvertently conveyed a lack of trust, stifling Marcus’s initiative. This highlights how popular management practices can lead, subtly, to diminishing effects.

Profiles of Accidental Diminishers: Common Well-Intentioned Behaviors

Several common behaviors, often rooted in positive intentions, can inadvertently diminish others:

• Idea Guy: This leader is a fountain of ideas, constantly sharing new insights, believing it sparks creativity in others. However, teams often end up chasing ephemeral new ideas, making little progress on any. They learn to stop generating their own ideas, waiting for the “fountain to spew,” leading to “idea lazy” behavior.
• Always On: A dynamic, charismatic leader who is always engaged, always present, and always has something to say. They believe their energy is contagious. In reality, they are draining, consuming all available “oxygen,” suffocating others. People learn to “turn her off inside your head,” making the leader’s endless speech “white noise” and diminishing their own presence.
• Rescuer: This leader dislikes seeing people struggle or make mistakes, so they jump in at the first sign of distress, often with “heroic rescues.” Their noble intent is to ensure success and protect reputations. However, by interrupting the natural performance cycle, they starve people of vital learning. Employees become dependent and helpless, often experiencing a “performance disconnect” where they perceive success despite the leader’s intervention.
• Pacesetter: An achievement-oriented leader who leads by example, personally setting high standards for performance and values. They expect others to notice, follow, and catch up. The effect, however, is often that others become spectators rather than followers, slowing down or giving up because the gap is too big to close. My own experience racing my son to the bus stop showed that when I ran too fast, he stopped running, saying, “We weren’t racing that time.”
• Rapid Responder: This leader values agility and fast turnaround, being “on it” by quickly responding, troubleshooting, and making micro-decisions. Their intent is to create an agile organization. Instead, they often generate low-grade apathy. Employees learn that the boss is “already on it,” so they slow their own responses or “just let it go,” leading to activity traffic jams and the leader being the only one growing.
• Optimist: A positive, can-do manager who always sees possibilities and believes problems can be solved with hard work. They are “glass half full.” While positive thinking is beneficial, an overly optimistic leader can undervalue the team’s struggle and hard-fought learning. This can lead staff to wonder if the leader has lost touch with reality, or worse, convey an unintentional message that “mistakes and failure are not an option,” as “how hard can it be?” The leader sees only upside, while others become preoccupied with the downside.
• Protector: This “mama bear” leader shields staff from corporate hazards like politics, bullies, or brutal facts, fearing they might become “tainted or disillusioned.” They create a “happy valley” where people can flourish. However, this misguided attempt to manufacture safety prevents staff from learning to fend for themselves, building resistance, and taking full accountability.
• Strategist: The big-picture thinker who casts a compelling vision of the future, selling it with evangelical zeal. While context is crucial, being too prescriptive leaves insufficient space for others to think through challenges themselves. People may spend time “second-guessing what the boss wants” rather than finding their own answers, climbing the “mountaintop to seek guidance from the guru.”
• Perfectionist: This leader appreciates excellence and wants everyone to achieve “just exactly right” results. They offer helpful critiques and point out flaws, envisioning a masterpiece. However, constant “red marks and blue tape” can leave others disengaged and disheartened, seeing “blood and loss.” Sometimes, a “90 percent solution executed with 100 percent ownership is better than getting it 100 percent right with a disengaged team.”

Are You an Accidental Diminisher?: Increasing Self-Awareness

Having these tendencies doesn’t make one a Diminisher, but increases the likelihood of a diminishing impact. Accidental Diminishers are often unaware of their impact. To increase self-awareness, leaders must seek feedback from those they lead. Khalid, an Emirati national, demonstrated this by having workshop participants ask colleagues directly how they were “accidentally diminishing.” Hazel Jackson, a CEO, includes the question “How might I be diminishing you?” in her performance check-ins. Getting new information through formal tools (like the Accidental Diminisher Quiz at http://www.multipliersbooks.com) or casual conversations is critical for recalibrating one’s approach.

Leading with Intention: From Vulnerability to Multiplier Moment

Leading with intention means understanding how natural tendencies can lead astray. John C. Maxwell, a renowned leadership genius, recognized his own blind spots as a Pacesetter, Optimist, and Rescuer. He set a one-year goal to adjust his intentions, seeking feedback from his CEO, Mark Cole. They developed a “3 and 1 count” code from baseball: when a project was struggling but not failing, Mark would signal “The count is still 3 and 1,” reminding John to stand back and allow his leader to take the “last swing.” This expressed confidence and allowed the team member to handle the situation, ultimately leading to greater credibility and effectiveness. John’s journey shows that recognizing vulnerabilities and developing workarounds can transform “would-be diminishing episodes into Multiplier moments.”

Chapter Eight: Dealing with Diminishers – Strategies for Navigating Toxic Leadership

This chapter provides practical strategies for individuals who find themselves working under diminishing leaders, offering methods to minimize their negative impact and maintain one’s own Multiplier potential.

The Death Spiral Versus the Growth Cycle: Breaking the Negative Feedback Loop

Working for a Diminisher is stressful and exhausting, often leading to a “spiral of despair.” When a micromanager controls and dictates, the subordinate feels disrespected and undervalued. This triggers a natural instinct to be judgmental in return—criticizing, dismissing input, and excluding the Diminisher. The Diminisher, sensing a threat, responds with even greater force, doubling down on their views and interfering more. This creates a standoff between two Diminishers, perpetuating the cycle. Research shows this “extended spin cycle” lasts, on average, 22 months, or 85% of the time survey respondents worked with the person.

Breaking this death spiral requires multiplication. Instead of responding with criticism and avoidance, individuals can respond with intellectual curiosity and empathy. By asking “Why is he worried?” or “What does he need from me?”, one can understand the Diminisher’s concerns, listen without ego, and foster a more cooperative spirit. This can lead the Diminisher to extend more respect and back off, replacing confrontation with cooperation, and allowing the individual to thrive.

Cycle Breakers: Fundamental Principles for Navigating Diminishers

The strategies offered are based on three fundamental principles:

• It’s Not Necessarily About You: While you feel the pain, the Diminisher’s behavior often stems from their own pressures or past experiences, not necessarily your actions. However, your reactions can inflame the situation.
• Diminishing Isn’t Inevitable: You have more control than you think over how you respond. You can choose to maintain high expectations for yourself and use your own analysis to stand up to Diminishers in healthy ways.
• You Can Lead Your Leader: Since managers rarely know you as well as you know yourself, you can guide them to utilize you at your best. You can advocate for your capabilities and defend yourself from well-meaning but overbearing management.

The chapter emphasizes that chronic diminishing leads to increased stress, reduced confidence, low energy, depression, and even poor health, with collateral damage extending to personal life. The strategies provided aim to improve reactions, relieve stress, neutralize problems, and halt the downward spiral, ultimately allowing you to become an “Invincible” contributor.

Level 1: Defenses Against the Dark Arts of Diminishing Managers

These are basic survival strategies to minimize the magnitude of a Diminisher’s sting.

• 1. Turn Down the Volume: Learn to ignore constant nitpicking and undermining. Don’t bark at every disturbance; choose to filter out interference. Jackie, an HR executive, decided not to take her unpredictable CEO’s behavior personally, finding that “the worst thing that can happen to me is getting fired, and… that’s not the worst thing that can happen to me.” Glenn Pethel, an education leader, learned to respond, “Because I don’t want to be,” when asked why he wasn’t upset by uncooperative colleagues, refusing to let their negativity “dip from my bucket.”
• 2. Strengthen Other Connections: If you can’t get into the Diminisher’s trust circle, build other circles of influence. Chuck, a project manager, minimized time responding to a tyrannical partner’s feedback and instead spent time with clients and colleagues, building his confidence and broadening his support. Create an internal/external advisory board, a safe sounding board, a cheering squad, and a career network to build collateral strength and counter the Diminisher’s effects.
• 3. Retreat and Regroup: Avoid head-to-head confrontations. When facing an impasse, regroup and reset your aspiration from “winning” to “staying in the game.” An Apple executive pitching to Steve Jobs would acknowledge his points, ask for time to rethink, and return with a revised plan incorporating his ideas, allowing Jobs to gracefully rethink without becoming entrenched.
• 4. Send the Right Signals: Micromanagers often act out of concern that work won’t be completed correctly. You can ward off this by providing delivery assurance. Consistently delivering as promised builds trust. If you have a different personality type (e.g., a Perceiving style employee reporting to a Judging style manager), send signals that address their specific concerns (e.g., “we’ve hit each milestone, and we will be ready to go by 8 a.m. tomorrow”).
• 5. Assert Your Capability: Don’t let an overly helpful manager do something you can do independently. Megan Lambert, a consultant, told her friend-colleague, “For three days, I want you to believe that I’m amazing at this job. Just pretend I’m totally competent.” This reminded her friend to step back. Politely but firmly state, “I appreciate the help, and I think I can handle this one,” or use humor like Ben Putterman’s “loosen the choke chain” signal.
• 6. Ask for Performance Intel: If you lack clear direction or useful feedback, ask for it. When an overly directive physician leader prescribed a specific technique, Kevin Grigsby asked, “Can you tell me more about what you want as an outcome?” This shifted the conversation to the desired impact, allowing him to propose alternative routes. When receiving criticism, ask, “What should I be doing more of? Less of?” to get actionable feedback.
• 7. Shop for a New Boss: If the diminishing environment is truly toxic, quitting is often the most effective defense. If you do quit, “shop for your next boss” by asking revealing questions about their mindset, team focus, and approach to intelligence and ownership. Check reviews on sites like Glassdoor.com or even try working as a contractor first. If a prospective manager is uncomfortable with these questions, it’s a clear signal.

Level 2: Multiplying Up – Being a Multiplier to Your Boss

You can be a Multiplier even when working for a Diminisher by applying Multiplier principles upward. Diminishers often desperately want their intelligence and ideas to be valued. By bringing out the best in your boss, you create conditions for your own success.

• 1. Exploit Your Boss’s Strengths: Instead of trying to change your boss, focus on utilizing their knowledge and skills effectively. Ron, a senior executive at Apple, invited Steve Jobs to review product designs at critical development points, openly asking, “How can we make this even better?” This invoked Jobs’s native genius, leading to ideas that elevated the product without Jobs dictating every detail.
• 2. Give Them a User’s Guide: Don’t wait to be discovered. Proactively broadcast your capabilities and how you can be best utilized. Define your “native genius” (what you do easily and freely) and give it a name (e.g., “troubleshooting” or “Process Surgeon”). Then, outline specific ways your genius can be put to work (e.g., fixing a late project, winning back a troubled account) and discuss these with your boss.
• 3. Listen to Learn: Even with a Diminisher, actively listen to learn what they can teach you. Those who thrived under Larry Ellison at Oracle listened intently to his reactions, not just to placate him, but to genuinely learn from his insights. Glenn Pethel makes sure Diminishers feel heard by asking, “Do you mind if I take some notes?” and summarizing their points, transforming the dynamic into a partnership. Shaw, a director, found that by asking questions of his micromanaging boss, they were “on the same page more often than I had thought.”
• 4. Admit Your Mistakes: Nothing fuels a Diminisher’s belief that “people aren’t going to figure it out without me” like unrepentant mistakes. By frankly discussing your mishaps and sharing what you’ve learned, you shift the conversation from blame to recovery. This reinforces the Multiplier belief that people are smart and can learn from mistakes, turning a Micromanager into more of an Investor.
• 5. Sign Up for a Stretch: Don’t just wait for a promotion; volunteer for challenging work that is “a size too big.” Offer to work beyond your current scope, extend your skills to a new domain, or staple yourself to a problem outside your immediate job description. This signals readiness and capability, showing your boss how your initiative can lead to more.
• 6. Invite Them to the Party: Instead of excluding the Diminisher, invite them in. Share more data, invite them to meetings, and ask them to weigh in on important issues. This transparency signals trust and allows you to maintain more control over their contribution. One manager invited an interfering senior executive to kick off a critical project meeting, leading the executive to remark, “When I work with you, I feel like we can do anything.”

Level 3: Inspiring Multiplier Leadership in Others: Coaching the Accidental Diminisher

This level focuses on strategies to help others (especially bosses) recognize their diminishing impact and find a better way of leading. This requires the individual to want to change and be incentivized to do so.

• 1. Assume Positive Intent: Start by assuming your colleague has good intentions. This creates common ground and helps them see that they are not getting what they seek. For a Rapid Responder, you might say, “I know you want to create a responsive team, but when you are so quick to respond, other people don’t get a chance to.”
• 2. Address One Issue at a Time: Avoid overwhelming the Diminisher with all your frustrations. Introduce one small idea or observation at a time, preventing them from feeling attacked and retreating.
• 3. Celebrate Progress: Like dolphin training, reward all behavior in the right direction, even small acts of good leadership. Recognizing and appreciating every attempt at Multiplier leadership encourages new habits.

Chapter Nine: Becoming a Multiplier – The Path to Maximizing Collective Intelligence

This final chapter addresses the journey of becoming a Multiplier, offering a framework and tools for individual transformation and for building an entire Multiplier culture. It reinforces that Multiplier practices can be learned and developed.

Confessions of a Diminisher: Bill Campbell’s Transformation

Bill Campbell, former CEO of Intuit and a renowned Silicon Valley coach, started his career as a “real Diminisher.” As a young marketing manager at Kodak, he would rewrite sales leaders’ plans; at Apple, he was the “ultimate Micromanager,” burrowing into every detail. He famously told a manager, “That’s the dumbest question I have ever heard,” dismantling the group’s curiosity. At Claris, and again when starting another company, he faced near-mutinies from colleagues who felt stifled. These “doses of self-awareness” led him to realize he was hurting his company and jeopardizing his team. He decided to change, starting by listening more and telling less, and developing a deep appreciation for his colleagues’ knowledge. He even began counseling other Diminishers in his organization.

Becoming a Multiplier: A Multiplier of Multipliers

Bill’s transformation was a steady transition. By the time he became CEO at Intuit, he had “uncovered the Multiplier inside of him.” Even after retiring as CEO, he became a “Multiplier of Multipliers,” coaching early-stage start-up CEOs like those from Amazon, Netscape, PayPal, and Google. He taught them to leverage intelligence, helping them “see it differently” and “kick them out of their comfort zones.” For example, he helped one CEO transform bland executive staff meetings into rigorous debates on crucial business issues by asking the CEO to prepare crucial topics and have the team “take their functional hats off and put their company hats on.” Bill’s legacy was making “us all better,” demonstrating that Multiplier practices can be learned and taught.

Resonance, Realization, and Resolve: The Three-Step Reaction

People generally experience a three-step reaction to the Multiplier ideas:

• 1. Resonance: The distinction between Diminishers and Multipliers resonates deeply, as people recognize these leadership styles in their own experience.
• 2. Realization of the Accidental Diminisher: Most readers confess to seeing some degree of diminishing behaviors in themselves, realizing their well-meaning practices may be detrimental.
• 3. Resolve to Be a Multiplier: After identifying their own diminishing tendencies, individuals feel a genuine desire to become Multipliers, though often overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.

Accelerators: Fast-Tracking the Journey to Multiplier Leadership

To move from insight and resolve to sustained impact, five accelerators can be employed:

• Accelerator No. 1: Start with the Assumptions: Multiplier assumptions are the “headpin” that can knock out a whole set of behaviors.
  • Diminisher Assumption: “People will never figure this out without me.” This leads to the leader being the sole representative, resulting in limited contribution from others.
  • Multiplier Assumption: “People are smart and can figure it out.” This leads to empowering others, giving them full responsibility, and providing support, resulting in full engagement and benefit to the organization.
• Accelerator No. 2: Work the Extremes: Leaders don’t need to be good at everything; they need a few distinguishing strengths and no sharp weaknesses.
  • Neutralize a Weakness: Focus on moving a significant weakness into the “middle, acceptable zone,” rather than trying to turn it into a strength.
  • Top Off a Strength: Identify your strongest Multiplier discipline and build a deep, broad repertoire of practices to excel at it, progressing from good to great. The Multipliers 360 assessment can help identify these extremes.
• Accelerator No. 3: Run an Experiment: Engage in small, successive experiments with new approaches, testing new behaviors, analyzing feedback, and adjusting.
  • Labeling Talent: Jack Bossidy, a manufacturing plant leader, started “genius watching” his team, then publicly labeled each person’s native genius. This led to the team naturally assigning roles that utilized unique capabilities, transforming a dominating team member into a multiplier.
  • Liberating Lokesh: Christine, a manager, used “genius watching” to understand Lokesh’s timidity and over-deference. By creating more space and asking questions, Lokesh started offering opinions, speaking more, and volunteering, shifting from 20-25% to 75-80% utilization.
  • Debating the Deal: Gary Lovell, a Project Manager for HP Enterprise Services, used debate to integrate a new business unit. He asked his technical team to assume “untypical ‘job’ roles” to hash out pros and cons, leading to a united front and an innovative solution for the client.
  • Investing in Renewable Energy: Gregory Pal, a manager in an alternative energy start-up, gave Michael, a remote employee, full ownership of a Brazilian partnership strategy. By integrating Michael virtually and offering guidance, Michael’s utilization jumped from 20-25% to 75-80% in weeks, and Gregory learned to “take charge without taking over.”
• Accelerator No. 4: Brace Yourself for Setbacks: Expecting setbacks is crucial, as transforming old habits is neither automatic nor immediate. Give yourself permission to stumble and know that “old habits will be mixed with new assumptions.” Share your strategy with colleagues to gain support and commitment.
• Accelerator No. 5: Ask a Colleague: For accelerated development, invite a trusted colleague (employee, peer, or boss) to choose your experiment and provide feedback. This “rocket fuel” leverages their perspective to identify your “Accidental Diminisher” vulnerabilities and suggests the most impactful experiment.

Building a Multiplier Culture: From Individual Insight to Organizational Impact

To transform an organization, Multiplier leadership must become a shared cultural norm.

Mike Felix: AT&T’s Midwest IEFS Division Turnaround

Mike Felix, leading 8,500 people in AT&T’s Midwest Internet and Entertainment Field Services division (perennially in last place), discovered that managers were good technicians but lacked leadership skills. After attending a Multipliers summit, he realized his own “Accidental Diminisher” tendencies. He then initiated a cultural transformation by:

• A Call to Action: Introducing the language of Multipliers by having all managers read the book and take the Accidental Diminisher quiz. This gave them “common language and permission to call out diminishing actions.”
• Modeling New Behaviors: Mike spent time in the field, teaching “winning behaviors” to 68 area managers and 500 frontline managers. He modeled the new approach, even asking direct reports for feedback on his tone in town hall meetings, publicly admitting when he “got it wrong.”
• Making Up-Front People Decisions: Leaders exhibiting the right mindsets were promoted, while those who couldn’t transition were moved out. They spotlighted “Multiplier moments” (like a frontline manager creating a game show for safety), making “new heroes” and building new success beliefs.
• Building Trust: Instead of preaching, Mike and his team built trust by extending trust to employees and asking sincere questions that conveyed: “I trust you to learn how to get it right.”

A Common Culture: Sustained Impact

Within three years, Mike Felix’s division went from perennially last to definitively first, winning three consecutive JD Power Awards for Customer Satisfaction and achieving the best financial performance. This shows how a cultural shift, rooted in Multiplier mindsets and practices, can transform an entire organization.

Cultivating Growth: Elements of a Strong Culture

Strong cultures redirect and shape behavior, overpowering individual intent. Key elements of culture include:

• Common Language: Shared words and phrases with common meaning (e.g., AA’s “Big Book”).
• Learned Behaviors: A set of learned responses to stimuli.
• Shared Beliefs: Acceptance of something as true.
• Heroes and Legends: Admired individuals and their heroic stories.
• Rituals and Norms: Consistent behaviors regularly followed.
• AA Example: Alcoholics Anonymous demonstrates a powerful culture through its common language (Twelve Steps), shared beliefs (powerlessness over alcohol), learned behaviors (meetings, sponsors), heroes (sharing stories), and rituals (introductions).

Building Deep Culture: From Surface to Sustained Norms

Building a Multiplier culture requires moving from surface-level cultural elements (language, behavior) to deeply embedded beliefs and routinized practices. Incomplete attempts to change culture can lead to resistance.

10 Practices to Build a Multiplier Culture:

Common Language:

• 1. Hold a book talk: Like Bamboo HR, have senior leadership read and discuss “Multipliers.”
• 2. Discuss Accidental Diminishers: Encourage vulnerable conversations about personal diminishing tendencies, as done by Bamboo HR.

Learned Behavior:

• 3. Introduce Multiplier mindsets: AT&T University introduced Multiplier mindsets to 150 company officers, then distributed the book to 6,700 general managers and held webinars for over 125,000 leaders. This flattened hierarchy by encouraging questions and reducing hesitation.
• 4. Teach Multiplier skills: Eastman Chemical held immersive two-day leadership workshops focused on Multiplier practices, using 360-degree assessments and “Multiplier Moments” in team meetings to share pivotal transformations.
• 5. Fuse Multipliers with daily decisions: Intuit used a business leadership simulation from BTS to teach leaders to approach problems with a Multiplier mindset, ensuring ideas translated from training to real-time business decisions.

Shared Beliefs:

• 6. Codify a leadership ethos: Nike established a Manager Manifesto based on Multiplier concepts, defining the purpose and standards of excellence for managers to “unleash the full potential of each person on your team.”

Heroes & Legends:

• 7. Spotlight Multiplier moments: Nike celebrated Casey Lehner as “Multiplier of the Year” with an awards ceremony and custom sneakers, making heroes out of “genius makers.” Companies can spotlight leaders for exemplifying Multiplier leadership.
• 8. Measure managers: Companies like Nike and NBN (Australian broadband provider) incorporate Multiplier behaviors into annual manager assessments (e.g., Nike’s “eight habits of winning managers,” NBN’s 180-degree assessment creating a company-wide “heat map”).

Rituals & Norms:

• 9. Pilot a Multiplier practice: Chris Fry at Salesforce piloted an “opportunity open market” for software developers to transfer to new teams after each quarterly release, making internal transfers easier than external ones. This successful pilot was implemented company-wide.
• 10. Integrate practices with business metrics: ABN AMRO, with Dutch consultancy Leadership Natives, correlated Multiplier traits with their new leadership language, tying Multiplier behaviors to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and corporate strategy, achieving a 163% ROI on their pilot program.

Building Momentum: Sustaining the Success Cycle

Most new initiatives “fizzle out” in a “failure to launch” cycle. Instead, start small and build a series of successive wins. Each win provides energy for the next phase, entrenching new beliefs and supplanting old survival strategies. Momentum can be sustained by drawing on the power of community, forming tribes of like-minded leaders who provide support, positive peer pressure, and a safe space for experimentation.

The Multiplier Effect Revisited: Why It Matters

• It Matters to You: People give Multipliers 2× more of their discretionary effort and mental energy, making them smarter and more capable. Working for a Multiplier is “exhausting but exhilarating,” a “buildup experience.” Multipliers become “the boss to work for,” attracting talent and providing extraordinary returns.
• It Matters to the Organization: Multipliers can more than double the capability of their people, addressing “new challenges and insufficient resources.” This is timely in down markets and timeless in growth markets, as it increases the organization’s brainpower to support growth demands.
• It Matters to the World at Large: To solve “significant problems,” we need leaders who can access twice the levels of available intelligence. We need “genius makers” who can extract and utilize all available intelligence to solve complex and vital challenges.

Genius or Genius Maker?: The Choice is Yours

The book concludes with the metaphor of Philippe Petit, deciding to shift his weight from the building to the tightrope between the Twin Towers. Leaders face a similar choice: remain anchored to the status quo or shift weight onto the “wire of change” and lead like a Multiplier. Diminishing cultures, based on incorrect assumptions, may be unsustainable and eventually collapse. The only institutions left standing in turbulent times may be those that harvest the abundance of intelligence available.

The way you choose to lead shapes your self-perception and defines your legacy. Being a Multiplier means playing in a way that invites others to play big, and in doing so, you bring out the best in yourself. The choice is between being a genius (who might be the smartest person in the room) or a genius maker (who makes everyone in the room smarter).