This book entered two new words into my vocabulary of personality: “diminisher” and “multiplier.” To Wiseman, these contrasting interpersonal styles are the secret understanding to why some smart people succeed at leadership and others fail. A diminisher is someone who socially tries to prove how smart they are to everyone around them. As such, they promote themselves, not the people around them. In stark contrast, multipliers make the people around them feel smarter and more ingenious on their own. This evokes greater – in other words, multiply – results from the team (as much as twofold according to Wiseman’s data).

First, it should be acknowledged that Wiseman and her team did not make up these contrasts on their own. Instead, they conducted qualitative and quantitative research into organizations to understand why some leaders can evoke great results while others do not. The methods of their research are described in an appendix. Although many readers do not like examining research methodology, it’s helpful to see that empiric research, not personal opinion, drives this book’s direction.

Most of the book describes five different practices that multipliers do that diminishers do the opposite. They can seem like more personality types rooted in leadership styles. It’s helpful to know that most multipliers do slightly well on most styles but excel at just one or two. This book seeks to identify ways incrementally that people can avoid the bad practices of diminishers and promote a few more good practices.

At times, this book can veer into “self-help rah-rah.” That is, it can become more motivational than substance, in spite of the research framework underlying this work. Despite these moments, most of the book communicates the central contrast of multipliers with diminishers. It definitely can evoke readers’ memories of various diminisher authority figures in their history (like bad bosses and bad teachers). Overall, such intellectual processing can prove beneficial because it can remind us why we need to steer away from negative practices that can hurt other people.

This book’s intended audience mainly consists of aspiring leaders. It can also consist of current leaders who desire to raise their leadership game. This work was well-received by the reading public when it debuted several years ago and achieved bestseller status. The general message can help motivate people to focus on how their actions affect others more than themselves. While business and social audiences will benefit most from it, we can all become more attuned to how our attitudes, for better or worse, multiply on each other. ( )

This book is about leaders who who amplify others' results vs those who diminish others' results.

Based on research of more than 150 executives across 4 continents, Liz Wiseman discovered that leaders can be placed on a spectrum between two extremes: Multipliers vs Diminishers. Multipliers amplify the results of people around them, while Diminishers reduce others’ results.

What it covers:
• The 5 disciplines of Multipliers, including the differences in behaviors and practices between Multipliers and Diminishers
• What is an “Accidental Diminisher“, recognize such tendencies in yourself and others, and know how you can respond to them
• The strategies and approaches for managing Diminishers around you, including your boss.

Book summary at: https://readingraphics.com/book-summary-multipliers/

Best leadership book I’ve read. Required reading for anyone who is an driven, fast-paced, and leads a team. ( )

A really excellent book to read if you are at all interested in understanding dynamics between a manager/leader and employee direct reports/followers. The author distinguishes between a "Multiplier" and a "Diminisher", the former a manager/boss/leader who can get far more work/accomplishment out of their employees (than they or anyone else believes possible, including the employees themselves) from the latter, who as a leader can actually diminish the amount of work from their employees. then the author goes on to discuss how to become a Multiplier or at least reduce your Diminisher tendencies, and how to work for a "Diminisher" or at least find ways to work around their Diminisher tendencies.

I certainly wish this book had been around many years ago in my working life, not only for me to learn how to reduce my Diminisher tendencies and become a real Multiplier. Being retired now, this book does not directly affect my working in a business; however, I found the book to be useful in other situations in life than a boss/employee relationship.
The book is not a technical/boring management tome, but very readable and understandable. By using actual examples of individuals in real life and how they were Multipliers or Diminishers, the book is much more interesting.

Highly recommended. ( )