Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (9 page)

The Starting Block

BECOME A GENIUS WATCHER.
Todd Paletta, a retailing executive and aspiring Multiplier, had just finished an exhausting business meeting in New York and settled into his business class seat, headed for home on the West Coast. As the plane took off, he heard the cry of a baby. He hoped it would stop after the plane settled into the standard cruising altitude of 30,000 feet. It didn’t. He then realized the sound was right behind him—right there in business class. A baby in business class! The mother stood up in the aisle, trying to console the child. Now the jarring sound was right next to his ear. Todd was annoyed at first. But as his attention became focused on the mother, he started genius watching. He found himself studying her actions closely and appreciating her efforts to soothe the child. He observed the way she juggled the demands of the child and the silent frustrations of the other passengers. He watched longer and noticed her patience. He began talking with her, learning more about her, her efforts, and her interests. He started forming hypotheses about her talents and perhaps even a source of her genius. He then started to wonder, “If she worked on my team, how would I put these capabilities to use? Where would she excel?”

No, Todd didn’t make a job offer to this mother during the flight, or after. The point is that Todd was learning to genius watch and was practicing it in even the most unusual of places and circumstances. He had spent the last two weeks studying the capabilities of the people in his organization, looking to identify their native genius and how he might best utilize it in his business. He was in genius-watching
mode and he couldn’t help but see it everywhere—even in the efforts of a mother with an inconsolable child and a plane full of aggravated passengers.

Here are three steps to help you begin genius watching:

PULL SOME WEEDS.
Individual genius can be deceptive. At first look, it would appear costly to remove one supersmart player, even if she has a diminishing effect on a team. But one needs only to do the math to see the high cost of destructive genius. Our research consistently confirmed that Diminishers cause people to operate at about 50 percent of their full intelligence and capability. Removing a highly intelligent employee or leader can be difficult, but it can have huge payoffs. On a work team of eleven people, removing a Diminisher can give back the equivalent of five full-time people, with ten people operating at 100 percent. You may lose one mind, but you gain back five. It is a law of numbers.

Leaders most often know who the blockers are. The most common mistake they make is waiting too long to remove them. If you want to unleash the talent that is latent in your organization, find the weeds and pull them out. Don’t do it quietly. Like K.R. Sridhar and the CEO described earlier, huddle the team immediately, and let them know that you’ve removed someone because he or she was holding back the team. Give people permission to think fully again.

Each of the above is a starting point that can create a proof point for the power of the Talent Magnet. Once successful, you will be one step further along the path of the Multiplier.

UP AND TO THE RIGHT

Sue Siegel, former president of Affymetrix and an extraordinary Multiplier, reflected on her pillar experiences as a leader. She said, “My best moments were when team members would call me after accomplishing some tough goal or overcoming a huge hurdle. They were usually tired, but they were brimming with enthusiasm, having grown
through the challenge. These moments were exhilarating for them and me.” The people who worked for Sue indeed describe the time as a highlight of their career.

Talent Magnets encourage people to grow and leave. They write letters of recommendation and they help people find their next stage to perform on. And when people leave their group, they celebrate their departures and shout their success to everyone. You see, these celebrations become their best recruiting tool.

Jack and Suzy Welch wrote, “The best thing about being a preferred employer is that it gets you good people, and this launches a virtuous cycle. The best team attracts the best team, and winning often leads to more winning. That’s a ride that you and your employees will never want to get off.”
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Talent Magnets create a cycle of attraction that is exhilarating for employer and employee alike. Their organizations are coveted places of employment, and people flock to work for them knowing the Talent Magnet will stretch them, grow them, and accelerate their careers. It is a thrill ride with the speed and exhilaration of a roller coaster but one that, like the revenue chart of every CFO’s dreams, moves constantly “up and to the right.”

THE MULTIPLIER FORMULA