BR: Multipliers by Liz Wiseman

My last book review from my 2018 Book List is Multipliers by Liz Wiseman. It’s a business/leadership book about how some leaders multiply results, while some (often unintentionally) diminish results.

Multipliers: Amazon Description

We’ve all had experience with two dramatically different types of leaders. The first type drains intelligence, energy, and capability from the people around them and always needs to be the smartest person in the room. These are the idea killers, the energy sappers, the diminishers of talent and commitment. On the other side of the spectrum are leaders who use their intelligence to amplify the smarts and capabilities of the people around them. When these leaders walk into a room, light bulbs go off over people’s heads; ideas flow and problems get solved. These are the leaders who inspire employees to stretch themselves to deliver results that surpass expectations. These are the Multipliers. And the world needs more of them, especially now when leaders are expected to do more with less.

My Review

You know I read all sorts of books (minus fantasy and adult fiction) and this one lands in the business/leadership genre. The other business/leadership book I read this year was Start With Why, which I really enjoyed. I can’t quite say that about this one. I tried reading it several times and just got distracted after a few pages of stories. That said, she did a great job summarizing each chapter. I hate to admit this, but after two chapters I just read each chapter’s summary.

I did enjoy the appendixes! (PS Who says that?) Specifically Appendix B with FAQs and Appendix E with Multiplier Experiments. The experiments are geared directly at certain types of diminishers. (I’m definitely guilty of being a perfectionist diminisher.) Maybe that’s why I skipped reading the chapters when they didn’t perfectly match what I wanted.