What Type of Leader Are You? A Multiplier or a Diminisher? Have you ever worked with or for someone that made you feel weak, dumb or incompetent? Most of us have. If we go back to that period, there’s a strong chance that your previous colleague got far less from you than your best effort.

On the other hand, think of your favorite high school teacher or college professor, and honestly ask yourself, “Did I like this professor because his or her class was easy or because he or she inspired me to do my best?”

Liz Wiseman, author of the book Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, describes these two types of leaders as “Multipliers” and “Diminishers.”The difference between these two types isn’t based on having good intentions or even intelligence, but instead it’s based on how a leader treats the people around them.

Multipliers see people as smart and capable of figuring out how to solve problems. Diminishers, on the other hand, assume that even smart people need their help.

Wiseman’s research included interviews with 150 executives in 35 countries and uncovered an interesting statistic:

Leaders that were classified as Multipliers got twice as much effort from their employees than Diminishers got. In fact, Diminishers, on average, got only 48% of people’s “intelligence and capability.”

MULTIPLIERS

Make no mistake: Multipliers are NOT people that make others feel good all the time, nor are they people who are constantly upbeat and positive. Instead, Multipliers are people that find ways to empower their team. Multipliers have the following attributes:

1. They debate. This includes debating those around them in the decision-making process as well as their employees.

2. They don’t provide easy answers. Instead, Multipliers keep people under pressure and ask questions that will help them arrive at an answer.

3. They create challenges. This is a way to create intensity, which will get people’s full attention, effort and best thinking.

4. They hold people accountable. Accountability helps others feel that they have ownership over their actions, so Multipliers hold their teams to account.