"The former Oracle VP whose research split leaders into 'Multipliers' who amplify talent and 'Diminishers' who suppress it."
Liz Wiseman is an American researcher, executive advisor, and author of "Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter," a leadership book built on extensive research into why some leaders amplify the intelligence and capability of their teams while others inadvertently shut it down. Before founding her research and leadership development firm, the Wiseman Group, Wiseman spent 17 years at Oracle Corporation, including as its Vice President of Global Leadership Development, giving her a close view of both effective and ineffective leadership at scale. "Multipliers" introduced the now widely used distinction between "Multiplier" leaders, who act as genius-makers, and "Diminisher" leaders, who unintentionally suppress the intelligence of the people around them, and the book has become a staple in corporate leadership training programs.
Our in-depth summaries and reviews of his work
Learn the 5 Multiplier disciplines, spot your Accidental Diminisher tendencies, and double your team output with Liz Wiseman research-backed framework.
Read Summary →Wiseman's research found the most effective leaders position themselves as the ones who bring out others' intelligence, rather than as the smartest person in the room.
Diminisher leaders frequently believe they're helping by jumping in and solving problems, but this pattern quietly erodes their team's ownership and growth.
Wiseman argues that when leaders take time to teach rather than simply fix, they build their team's long-term capacity to solve and avoid problems independently.
"When leaders teach, they invest in their people's ability to solve and avoid problems in the future."— Multipliers
"The Diminisher is a Micromanager who jumps in and out. The Multiplier is an Investor who gives others ownership and full accountability."— Multipliers
"Perhaps these leaders understood that the person sitting at the apex of the intelligence hierarchy is the genius maker, not the genius."— Multipliers
"Multipliers invoke each person's unique intelligence and create an atmosphere of genius—innovation, productive effort, and collective intelligence."— Multipliers
Learn the 5 Multiplier disciplines, spot your Accidental Diminisher tendencies, and double your team output with Liz Wiseman research-backed framework.
