(I was washing dishes listening to ch 3, so my notes are kinda crummy)
Hierarchical structures make diminishing a "natural" choice in many orgs. "The path of least resistance is the path of tyranny." Good leaders in these situations have to go out of their way and get intentional about being a Multiplier.
The Liberator-Multiplier gives space for the team to generate its own ideas, but being careful when and where to share their own ideas and opinions. Things to practise: distinguish between soft opinions and hard opinions and reserve your air space for only the hard opinions. Your opinion is a leader is naturally given more weight. You can't ask for people's best and then not give them room to do so.
The Liberator-Multiplier also frees up their team to get creative, by setting a stage that does not punish creativity. In places where there are mission-critical tasks, one tactic the author gives is to draw a "water line" – clearly delineate tasks/areas where people must not fail (showstoppers), and places where they have some room to experiment.
A Challenger-Multiplier pushes their team to excel rather than prescribing what they should do. They show them the challenge/opportunity and let them figure out how to rise to it. The leader doesn't have all the answers, readily admits so, and redirects their team's attention to the key questions that they need to answer. (This bit sounds a lot like just being a good teacher/coach/mentor?) That way they are invested in answering the questions just as much as you are.
How to go from a know-it-all to a Challenger? Practice asking questions of your team, as well as putting your team and yourself together in situations of learning. Get comfortable with not having all the answers.
This chapter got me thinking a lot about parenting and self-management too; the author used a parenting example too which rather drove home the point. Also, what could this look like at the board table? I am currently the chairperson of the Education Plan Committee, and as the chair, I already often don't speak; I'm managing a speakers list and/or trying to rein in discussion to stay on-point. I think the next chapter will have more interesting points w.r.t. running meetings.
