Global Leadership Summit 2013: Session 3 – Liz Wiseman

There is more intelligence in our organizations than we can see with the naked eye. We have latent unused intelligence all around us.

Use your intelligence to amplify, to magnify, to multiply the capability of those around you.

When you lead like a multiplier, people around you literally get smarter.

Multipliers come from all walks of life.

Great leaders use their intelligence to grow the intelligence of others around them.

Larry Gelwix – High School Rugby team coach – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Gelwix

Win or lose, he demanded they play their best.

Wangari Maathai – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai

KR Sridhar – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._R._Sridhar

What is the difference between pressure and stress? KR explains the difference.  William Tell. William Tell feels pressure. His son feels stress. The difference is the control.

Do you share the control so you can alleviate the stress?

Think about diminishers: What did this person do? How much intelligence did he/she get out of you?

Think about multipliers: What did this person do? How much intelligence did he/she get out of you?

Diminishers: criticize, wasted time, manipulated, put me in a box, took control, they punted, they punished, did not delegate, micromanaged, self-absorbed, my way or the highway. They got 43% of capability in WCA study.

Multipliers: encouraged, challenged, empowered, gave freedom, asked questions, trusted, defined a goal, inspired, talked, had vision, listened, communicated, let the team drive. They got 91% of capability in WCA study.

What did these individuals believe about you?

Multipliers believe that those around them are smart and they’ll figure it out.

Diminishers believe that no one will figure it out without me.

Diminishers: empire builder, tyrant, know-it-all, decision maker, micromanager, create stress. They got 48% of the capability in Wiseman study.

When we get stressed, we get physiologically stupid. Takes our brains 18 minutes to recover from the stressor.

Diminishers hire smart people, but do not use them. They collect smart people like knick-knacks.

Multipliers are talent magnets, liberators, debate makers, challengers, investors. They get 95% of capability in Wiseman study.

They create owners, not hirelings.

Multipliers identify people’s genius and help put it to work. They are liberators, assuming intelligence of their teammates.

Leaders oblige people to give their best.

Working at all of our capability is exhilerating; working at half of our capacity is exhausting.

We, at times, do our greatest intentions when we have the best intentions.

Types of leaders that can become diminishers: Idea Guy, Always-On, Rescuer, Pacesetter, Rapid Responder, Optimist

What can we do to be a multiplier? We don’t drift into better behavior.

When I shifted to asking questions, I found out that they already know the answers.

“It has been said that after meeting with the great British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, you left feeling he was the smartest person in the world, but after meeting with his rival Benjamin Disraeli, you left thinking you were the smartest person.” – Bono

What is one small thing that you could do to shift your weight and become a multiplier?