Key Insights from Liz Wiseman and Carla Harris at the Virtual Women in Leadership Institute | Day 3 of WIL

Liz Wiseman on the “Inspire” Commitment

Liz Wiseman is a researcher and executive advisor who teaches leadership to executives around the world. She is the author of the New York Times best seller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, The Multiplier Effect: Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools, and the Wall Street Journal best seller Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work.

When leaders play big and try to inspire their people, it can end up causing their team members to play small. Sometimes, the smartest leaders end up deeply underutilizing their team. Liz Wiseman calls these leaders diminishers—and they waste talent and intellect. Organizations simply cannot afford diminishers.

During this session, Liz explained how we can operate more like “multipliers”—leaders who make their team members feel smarter, more capable, and who drive true innovation. These multipliers access 90% of their team’s intelligence, drive and knowledge because they inspire others around them to grow and take on more.

Key Takeaways:

• Diminishers gather talent, while multipliers are a talent magnet. Talent flows to them because of how deeply they use it!
• It’s about mindset: Diminishers seem to believe that people can’t figure it out without them. They see themselves as central to their team’s ability to function. Multipliers believe that people are smart and with the right catalyst, they can figure it out and solve any problem.
• We all have accidental diminisher tendencies that drain energy and capability from our team. Here are some examples of diminisher types and remedies for these behaviors:
  • The Idea Fountain is filled with ideas, constantly sharing them freely with their team members. The problem is that these leaders tend to overwhelm their teams, and people often go to them for ideas, instead of innovating on their own. The remedy: Inspire people by asking better questions. Take the Extreme Question Challenge: In your next meeting, instead of giving directives, ask good questions and see how this behavior shift allows your people to flourish.
  • The “Always On” leader is charismatic, naturally energetic—and they tend to believe that their energy will inspire others. Instead, they often leave their teams feeling drained and their contributions can be perceived as “white noise.” The remedy: Take the “Chip Challenge” by bringing only your best ideas to meetings, contribute, and then give your team members the space to “go big.”
  • The Rescuer is big-hearted and wants people to be successful, so they swoop in to save the day when someone is struggling. But, by doing this, they stop the learning process too early, stunting the learning and leadership journeys of those on their teams. The remedy: Work to put others in charge and give them accountability—and the chance to fix the issue on their own.
• The best leaders know when to play big, but they also know when to step back. They know when to be a genius and when to be a genius-maker.

Carla Harris on the “Connected” Commitment

Wall Street veteran and author Carla Harris reminded us that, “Leadership is a journey from execution to empowerment.” You must engage with others in a way that empowers them. And always—always—bring your authentic self to the table. As we strive to live and lead during an unprecedented public health and economic crisis, our ability to lead authentically is more important than ever.