THE TALE OF TWO MANAGERS

Vikram worked as an engineering manager under two different division managers at Intel. Each leader could be considered a genius. Both had a profound impact on Vidram. The first leader was George Schneer, who was a division manager for one of Intel’s businesses.

Manager #1: The Midas Touch (Multiplier)

George had a reputation for running successful businesses at Intel. Every business he ran was profitable and grew under his leadership. But what most distinguished George was the impact he had on the people around him. Visram said, “I was a rock star around George. He made me. Because of him I transitioned from an individual contributor to big-time manager. Around him, I felt like a smart SOB – everything felt like that. He got 100 percent from me – it was exhilarating.” George’s team echoed the same sentiments: “We are not sure exactly what George did, but we knew we were smart and we were winning. Being on this team was the highlight of our careers.” George grew people’s intelligence be engaging it. He wasn’t the center of attention and didn’t worry about how smart he looked. What George worried about was extracting the smarts and maximum effort from each member of his team. In a typical meeting, he spoke only about 10 percent of the time, mostly just to “crisp up” the problem statement. He would then back away and give his team space to figure out an answer. Often the ideas his team would generate were worth millions. George’s team drove the business to achieve outstanding revenue growth and to deliver the profit bridge that allowed Intel to enter the microcomputer business.

Manager #2: The Idea Killer (Diminisher)

Several years later, Vikram moved out of George’s group and went to work for a second division manager who had been the architect of one of the early microprocessors. This second manager was a brilliant scientist who had now been promoted into management to run the plant that produced the chips. He was highly intelligent by every measure and left his mark on everyone and everything around him.

The problem was that this leader did all the thinking. Vikram said, He was very, very smart. But people had a way of shutting down around him. He just killed our ideas. In a typical team meeting, he did about 30 percent of the talking and left little space for others. He gave a lot of feedback – most of it was about how bad our ideas were.”

This manager made all the decisions himself or with a single confidant. He would then announce those decisions to the organization. Vikram said, “You always knew he would have an answer for everything. He had really strong opinions and put his energy into selling his ideas to others and convincing them to execute on the details. No one else’s opinion mattered.”

This manager hired intelligent people, but they soon realized that they didn’t have permission to think for themselves. Eventually, they would quit or threaten to quit. Ultimately Intel hired a second-in-command to work alongside his manager to counter the intelligence drain on the organization. But even then, Vikram said, “My job was more like cranking then creating. He only got from me about 50 percent of what I had to offer. And I would never work for him again!”

The second leader was so absorbed in his own intelligence that he stifled others and diluted the organization’s critical intelligence and capacity. George brought out the intelligence in others and created collective, viral intelligence in his organization. One leader was a genius. The other was a genius maker.

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.

We’ve all experienced these two types of leaders. What type of leader are you right now? Are you a genius, or are you a genius maker?

THE MULTIPLIER EFFECT Multipliers are genius makers. Everyone around them get smarter and more capable. People may not become geniuses in a traditional sense, but Multipliers invoke each person’s unique intelligence and create an atmosphere of genius – innovation, productive effort, and collective intelligence.

What could you accomplish if you could get twice as much from your people?

The reason for the difference is that when people work with Multipliers, they hold nothing back. They offer the very best of their thinking, creativity, and ideas. They give more than their jobs require and volunteer their discretionary effort, energy, and resourcefulness. They actively search for more valuable ways to contribute. They hold themselves to the highest standards. They give 100 percent of their abilities to the work – and then more.

"The most valuable asset of the 21st- century institution, whether business or non-business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity."

From the book: multipliers “HOW THE BEST LEADERS MAKE EVERYONE SMARTER” By Liz Wiseman

My friends, there are two sides to every business, the outside perception and the inside reality. Most companies outside perception is not an accurate reflection of their inside reality. May I suggest, please do your research carefully, ask former and current employees, what it's like to work inside the company. What is the company culture like and are the manager Diminishers, Multipliers or a combination of both. You will want to work for the Multipliers if at all possible, because working for a Diminisher will be a waste of you time and effort.

Tim Forrester AMERICAN WRITER AND ARTIST, INC.