(We're back, baby! I ran out of time with the book so I had to wait in the queue and re-borrow it from the library.)
Gist: a good leader invests in the growth, and indeed, the intelligence of their team members. They may be able to do all the things excellently, but they recognise that they may not always be around, so building up the skills and independence of their team members is more important than showing off their own knowledge. What's more: they recognise when it is best for them to not be around to take the reins, and push a younger and less-experienced mentee into a challenge so that they may grow.
A core belief of a multiplier here is that "people are smart and will figure things out." They let natural consequences play out (though, recall from ch 3 the practice of having a "water line" that demarcates where the team "must not" fail), and if they stepped in to help, they hand the task back for the teammate to finish, so that the accountability of finishing the job rests with the teammate, not all on their own shoulders.
In contrast, a Micromanaging-Diminisher would take over the job, whether it is because they feel they can do a better job, or because they genuinely, and out of kindness, want to shield their teammates from the challenge. Or sometimes, because they are newly promoted and simply didn't know they were supposed to delegate the work and keep it there. If a team member asks for help, have an exit plan – be there for backup, but make sure they make the calls.
In this chapter, Wiseman sprinkled in the stories of a few exemplar Investor-Multipliers throughout: Narayana Murthy, Infosys co-founder, credited with investing in the growth of many of the senior leaders at Infosys; Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India, who had early on made the commitment to nurture future leaders and quit serving as the general secretary of SEWA, despite being much-adored by its membership and would have been voted into the position in perpetuity.
Once again, I think about these in the context of parenting. I've been much more conscious about stepping in to help my kids when they need help. Especially with my older child, I have to get better at handing back the reins, and being firm when I think they need to stretch and figure it out on their own: I need an exit plan for when they make puppy eyes at me.
