Audio Tidbits

iseman, Liz and Greg McKeown. Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2010.

It isn't how much you know that matters. What matters is how much access you have to what other people know. It isn't just how intelligent your team members are; it is how much of that intelligence you can draw out and put to use.

The Diminisher is an Empire Builder. The Multiplier is a Talent Magnet.

The Diminisher is a Tyrant. The Multiplier is a Liberator.

The Diminisher is a Know-It-All. The Multiplier is a Challenger.

The Diminisher is a Decision Maker. The Multiplier is a Debate Maker.

The Diminisher is a Micromanager. The Multiplier is an Investor.

Would your people describe you as someone who recognizes talented people, draws them in, and utilizes them at their fullest? Would they say they have grown more around you than any other manager they have worked for? Or would they describe you as someone who pulled them into your organization not as a talent to be developed, but more as a resource to be deployed and then left to languish?

What people do easily, they do without conscious effort. They do it better than anything else they do, but they don't need to apply extraordinary effort to the task. They get results that are head-and-shoulders above others but they do it without breaking a sweat.

"Ignore me as needed to get your job done."

Leaders most often know who the blockers are. The most common mistake they make is waiting too long to remove them.

While a Tyrant creates stress that causes people to hold back, a Liberator creates space for people to step up. While a Tyrant swings between positions that create whiplash in the organization, a Liberator builds stability that generates forward momentum.

One way he elicits the best thinking from people is that he knows what people are actually capable of producing. He knows everyone's job intimately, but he doesn't do it for them. generate rapid learning cycles.

Liberators don't just listen the majority of time. They massively shift the ratio, listening most of the time. This creates space for others to share what they know.

Diminishers give answers. Good leaders ask questions. Multipliers ask the really hard questions. They ask the questions that challenge people not only to think but to rethink. They ask questions so immense that people can't answer them based on their current knowledge or where they currently stand.

There are times when a leader is so knowledgeable and personally brilliant that it seems tempting for them to provide directives centered in what they know. However, in the end, Know-It-Alls limit what their organization can achieve to what they themselves know how to do.

The nature of the executive role makes it easy to stay rooted in answer mode and to be the boss. The first step in this journey is to stop answering questions and begin asking them.

Our research has shown that Diminishers tend to make decisions solo or with a small inner circle. As a result, they not only underutilize the intelligence around them, but they also leave the organization spinning instead of executing.

In preparation for the meeting itself, Debate Makers define what needs to be addressed, why it is important, and how the final decision is expected to be made.

At first glance, it appears that Diminishers make efficient decisions. However, because their approach only utilizes the intelligence of a small number of people and ignores the rigor of debate, the broader organization is left in the dark, not understanding the decision, nor the assumptions and facts upon which it is based. With this lack of clarity, people turn to debating the soundness of a decision rather than executing it.

Multipliers enable others to operate independently by giving other people ownership for results and investing in their success. Multipliers can't always be present to perform emergency rescues,

This one is just for listening. Kevin does his magic to brighten up our day, especially if it is still Monday where you are.

This one is just for listening. Kevin does his magic to brighten up our day, especially if it is still Monday where you are.

This one is just for listening. Kevin does his magic to brighten up our day, especially if it is still Monday where you are.

Whether the thirty tips from James are actually paths to success is an open question. Even so, they are thirty tips that help us come closer to that success we want. I think James has actually discovered thirty ways of making the same point, and that point is well worth five minutes to be sure we never forget. Please listen and remind yourself.

Whether the thirty tips from James are actually paths to success is an open question. Even so, they are thirty tips that help us come closer to that success we want. I think James has actually discovered thirty ways of making the same point, and that point is well worth five minutes to be sure we never forget. Please listen and remind yourself.

Whether the thirty tips from James are actually paths to success is an open question. Even so, they are thirty tips that help us come closer to that success we want. I think James has actually discovered thirty ways of making the same point, and that point is well worth five minutes to be sure we never forget. Please listen and remind yourself.

Thanks for giving me a few minutes to share a couple of thoughts about leadership and taking care of business. I found an interesting book that has some ideas worth consideration.

In Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box, produced by the Arbinger Institute and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in 2002, I discovered what I think is an important truth for everyone but especially for leaders. It starts with a simple but rather strange proposition.

Self-deception determines my experience in every aspect of life.

There you go. Let me share it again. I don't know for sure about you but I personally find the assertion very strange.

Self-deception determines my experience in every aspect of life.

Okay, I'll move on. The arguement works like this.

1. An act contrary to what I feel I should do for another is an act of "self-betrayal."

2. When I betray myself, I begin to see the world in a way that justifies my self-betrayal.

3. When I see a self-justifying world, my view of reality becomes distorted.

4. When I betray myself, I enter the box.

5. Over time, certain boxes become characteristic of me, and I carry them with me.

6. By being in the box, I provoke others to be in the box with me.

7. In the box, we invite mutual mistreatment and obtain mutual justification. We collude in giving each other reason to stay in the box.

It might seem that if others are also in the box, my being in the box may not be all that big of a deal. It's a state I can easily justify or at least rationalize, since everyone is doing it.

So what doesn't work in the box? Why do I need to get out and stay out?

1. While I am in the box, there is little hope that others will change their behavior, attitudes or perceptions of me and of their world. I am and remain their justification for maintaining the status quo. I am the everyone in everyone is doing it.

2. In the box, doing my best to "cope" with others is limited by my perspective. I do things and behave in ways that are contrary to what I feel I should do. It doesn't feel right but I think I have no real choice, no reasonable alternative. It's nothing personal, it's just business. It's a dog eat dog world, either I get the bear or the bear gets me, that's just how it goes.

3. Leaving the box is not an option, or at least that's the way it seems to me. Sure, I could get out of the box but I definitely don't want to be out there by myself. Unless everyone is leaving the box or nearly everyone is leaving, I will just stay in the box where it is safe, even though it does not feel quite right to me. It's just business.

4. I know that in theary we could all sit down and talk this over but that is certainly not going to happen. Communicating about how we feel and what would be the right thing to do is just not how to take care of business.

As I said, it's business and talking about feelings, personal values and what we truly believe is just not how business is done. What would people think about me if I started talking about all that warm and fuzzy stuff? It's for sure I'm not interested in finding out.

5. Even if I thought climbing out of the box was a good idea, and I don't, I would need a whole new skill set. I am a business person and not the warm and fuzzy type. I have to focus on getting the job done and not on all that touchy feely stuff. I don't have either the time or interest it would take for implementing those new skills and techniques. It's just not me.

6. Changing my behavior is not something that is either needed or wanted by me or by those I do business with. We are all comfortable in the box or perhaps only think we are comfortable in there. My point is that it doesn't matter either way. It's how business is done and everyone is doing it.

There is not much point in thinking about getting out of the box anyway. I have been in there so long that I don't think I could get out if I wanted to. I don't have a clue about how I would even start.

Thanks for giving me a few minutes to share a couple of thoughts about leadership and taking care of business. I found an interesting book that has some ideas worth consideration.

In Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box, produced by the Arbinger Institute and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in 2002, I discovered what I think is an important truth for everyone but especially for leaders. It starts with a simple but rather strange proposition.

Self-deception determines my experience in every aspect of life.

There you go. Let me share it again. I don’t know for sure about you but I personally find the assertion very strange.

Self-deception determines my experience in every aspect of life.

Okay, I’ll move on. The arguement works like this.

1. An act contrary to what I feel I should do for another is an act of “self-betrayal.”

2. When I betray myself, I begin to see the world in a way that justifies my self-betrayal.

3. When I see a self-justifying world, my view of reality becomes distorted.

4. When I betray myself, I enter the box.

5. Over time, certain boxes become characteristic of me, and I carry them with me.

6. By being in the box, I provoke others to be in the box with me.

7. In the box, we invite mutual mistreatment and obtain mutual justification. We collude in giving each other reason to stay in the box.

Thanks for giving me a few minutes to share a couple of thoughts about leadership and taking care of business. I found an interesting book that has some ideas worth consideration.

In Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box, produced by the Arbinger Institute and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in 2002, I discovered what I think is an important truth for everyone but especially for leaders. It starts with a simple but rather strange proposition.

Self-deception determines my experience in every aspect of life.

There you go. Let me share it again. I don't know for sure about you but I personally find the assertion very strange.

Self-deception determines my experience in every aspect of life.

Okay, I'll move on. The arguement works like this.

1. An act contrary to what I feel I should do for another is an act of "self-betrayal."

2. When I betray myself, I begin to see the world in a way that justifies my self-betrayal.

3. When I see a self-justifying world, my view of reality becomes distorted.

4. When I betray myself, I enter the box.

5. Over time, certain boxes become characteristic of me, and I carry them with me.

6. By being in the box, I provoke others to be in the box with me.

7. In the box, we invite mutual mistreatment and obtain mutual justification. We collude in giving each other reason to stay in the box.

It might seem that if others are also in the box, my being in the box may not be all that big of a deal. It's a state I can easily justify or at least rationalize, since everyone is doing it.

So what doesn't work in the box? Why do I need to get out and stay out?

1. While I am in the box, there is little hope that others will change their behavior, attitudes or perceptions of me and of their world. I am and remain their justification for maintaining the status quo. I am the everyone in everyone is doing it.

2. In the box, doing my best to "cope" with others is limited by my perspective. I do things and behave in ways that are contrary to what I feel I should do. It doesn't feel right but I think I have no real choice, no reasonable alternative. It's nothing personal, it's just business. It's a dog eat dog world, either I get the bear or the bear gets me, that's just how it goes.

3. Leaving the box is not an option, or at least that's the way it seems to me. Sure, I could get out of the box but I definitely don't want to be out there by myself. Unless everyone is leaving the box or nearly everyone is leaving, I will just stay in the box where it is safe, even though it does not feel quite right to me. It's just business.

4. I know that in theary we could all sit down and talk this over but that is certainly not going to happen. Communicating about how we feel and what would be the right thing to do is just not how to take care of business.

As I said, it's business and talking about feelings, personal values and what we truly believe is just not how business is done. What would people think about me if I started talking about all that warm and fuzzy stuff? It's for sure I'm not interested in finding out.

5. Even if I thought climbing out of the box was a good idea, and I don't, I would need a whole new skill set. I am a business person and not the warm and fuzzy type. I have to focus on getting the job done and not on all that touchy feely stuff. I don't have either the time or interest it would take for implementing those new skills and techniques. It's just not me.

6. Changing my behavior is not something that is either needed or wanted by me or by those I do business with. We are all comfortable in the box or perhaps only think we are comfortable in there. My point is that it doesn't matter either way. It's how business is done and everyone is doing it.

There is not much point in thinking about getting out of the box anyway. I have been in there so long that I don't think I could get out if I wanted to. I don't have a clue about how I would even start.