While it’s essential to business and careers success, continuous learning is easier said than done, especially for small business owners who wear many hats. That’s why we’ve created the Monthly Must-Reads series with our selection of best books for small business owners. We not only share the best books for small business owners, but also aim to save you time by helping you quickly determine whether each business book is worth your valuable time.

Keep up with current innovation, management and workforce trends by reading the right business books for your situation. With each featured book, we share the main focus, key take-aways, and even reader reviews. For December’s best books for small business owners, we’re sharing Multipliers by Liz Wiseman. For a list of past Monthly Must-Reads, like October’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, check out the bottom of this article.

Business Book:

Multipliers, by Liz Wiseman

Focus:

It helps you understand how to bring out the best possible performance in your employees.

Main Idea:

There are two types of leaders: Diminishers and Multipliers. Multipliers inspire their employees to willingly reach for and achieve outcomes that they may never have thought possible.

Great for Small Business Owners Who:

Want to get exciting results from lean teams with few resources.

Synopsis:

Wiseman presents real-life anecdotes that illustrate two distinct leadership styles by analyzing data from more than 150 leaders: Diminishers and Multipliers. She then identifies each one’s habits of thought. She explains that Multipliers enjoy a higher rate of success and more impressive results by making everyone around them more productive, engaged and creative.

Wiseman empowers her readers to learn how to lead like Multipliers by contrasting Multipliers and Diminishers in the following ways:

• Talent Magnets vs. Empire Builders
• Liberators vs. Tyrants
• Challengers vs. Know-It-Alls
• Debate Makers vs. Decision Makers
• Investors vs. Micromanagers

After digesting this guidance toward becoming a Multiplier, readers are invited to take a self-assessment via Wiseman’s website to identify where they lie on the scale from Diminisher to Multiplier.

Key Take-Aways:

• Multipliers create more intelligence around them while diminishers’ leadership habits often stifle their team’s creativity and problem-solving skills.
• Multipliers:
  • Attract talented people because they become known for empowering team members and using them at their highest potential
  • Foster safe places for people to share, collaborate and unlock their best ideas
  • Outline challenging opportunities that inspire their people to stretch themselves
  • After you hear all points of view, make decisions based on stimulating, healthy debates.
  • Invest in their people, empowering them to take ownership of their roles and outcomes

Reviewers Say:

“Seeing as I’ve read [Multipliers] three times, I can’t believe I haven’t written a review yet. No exaggeration, this book can be a life-changer both at work and in your personal life. I admit that the first time I read it I thought, ‘Ok, this is so clear as to be obvious; I’ve seen these types of people for years at work.’ But, so what? I never thought it through, and Liz [Wiseman] has done the research, so my anecdotal evidence is supplanted by the real thing. Chapter by chapter, the concepts were illuminated with great examples and stories. This is no flavor of the month. These are concepts that can be used easily at work. And if applied, they work. I can attest to that.”

“We’ve all heard—and said—that less is more. Sometimes it’s true. But in most cases it’s still the reality that more is more, and is usually the preferred ROI of resources, whether those resources are of time, money, manpower, brain-trust, whatever. Best of all is getting more from less, and that is what Liz Wiseman’s fine book teaches us to do. Using a wide-range of varying case studies and examples from the world over, Wiseman itemizes the symptoms of a variety of leadership illnesses that sicken a corporate culture and disable its employees. You may well find yourself hiding in these pages somewhere; I know I did. Fortunately, after helping us see where we are minimizing rather than maximizing the human resources at our disposal, Wiseman clearly articulates the prescription(s) to fix the problem(s). It has the added advantage of being an engaging, thoughtful and well-written treatment.”

Monthly Must-Read Business Books:

August – Blitzscaling

September – The E-Myth Revisited

October – Influence: This Psychology of Persuasion

November – Built to Last