What makes a book great?
Just like a great entrepreneur a great book excites you and forces you to raise your game. ‘Multipliers: HOW THE BEST LEADERS MAKE EVERYONE SMARTER’ a book authored by Liz Wiseman is such a book, and here’s why.
I first came across Liz’s work when she presented her findings at the Gazelles Orlando Summit. I then introduced the concept to a client.
The client read the book and here’s his story.
‘….. last December during our yearly planning meeting as we (the executive team) were setting our goals and targets for 2011 we were interrupted by a knock at the door. The door opened and a procession of 40 people carrying cakes poured into the room singing ‘happy birthday’….that’s all our employees! I was totally taken aback, deeply embarrassed and lost for words…as my mind scrambled to pick the right words of thanks a thought started swirling and before I knew it… it just popped right out.
In one swift second I had created a debate and engaged all our employees on what our number one goal would be for 2011…in between mouthfuls of chocolate cake and tea the team threw around ideas, challenged each other and then collectively settled on a figure that would be a 300% improvement over 2010’s results…300%…. This whirlwind debate took no more than 30 minutes and we finished up with their commitment to me that they would set individual SMART goals for 2011 on top of & beyond their existing commitments before the new year kicked off and my pledge to how we would rewarding them all.
We are now approaching the end of Q1 and we are smashing this target, if we continue at this rate this will be our greatest year yet.
Was it luck? For sure, but I also believe we create our own luck. I have a new mantra: to ‘unleash the brilliance of your people. Ask questions and Do Not issue statements’….it’s hard for me but the results push me to continuously evolve as a leader….’
This story truly captures what I believe are the fundamental findings of Liz’s work:
Multipliers are leaders that have a natural tendency towards intellectual curiosity, debate making, and an ability to create healthy productive environments for their employees to stretch themselves to their limits each and every day in the knowledge that they won’t be allowed to fail.
