What does it feel like to be on the other side of you as a leader?
It’s hard to answer that question honestly, because the impact of our leadership is often invisible from our point of view, and it’s hard to close a gap we don’t know exists yet.
Last year at Aileron’s annual two-day business leadership conference, Summit, a room full of leaders came face to face with this pattern, and it stopped them in their tracks. Leadership coach and facilitator Wendy Roop led a session called Multiplying Your Team’s Potential, and the reason it resonated wasn’t because it was heavy, but because it was recognizable.
The gap between intention and impact
The session drew from a framework in Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown, which describes three types of leaders: Diminishers, who drain the energy and capability of those around them; Multipliers, who amplify it; and Accidental Diminishers, the well-intentioned leaders whose good habits quietly produce outcomes they never intended.
Most leaders don’t see themselves as Diminishers, but many find themselves in that third category, the Accidental Diminisher, without realizing it. And that’s where the growth happens.
Nine patterns worth an honest look
The framework identifies nine Accidental Diminisher tendencies, each one rooted in good intentions, but with an impact that doesn’t always translate the way we mean it to.
Most people who work through this framework identify with more than just one tendency.
Where do you see yourself?
Maybe you identify with the Idea Fountain. This is the leader who always has an idea, a good one, usually, but over time their team has quietly stopped bringing their own because they know the conversation will eventually circle back to what the leader already thinks. The intention is to spark thinking. The outcome is that others stop thinking altogether.
Or the Rescuer. The one who steps in when a team member is struggling, takes the problem off their plate, and solves it because they care and because they can do it faster. Over time, that team member stops trying to solve things on their own, having learned without anyone saying a word that help is always coming. The intention is to protect people. The outcome is that it quietly makes them smaller.
Could you be the Perfectionist? The one who gives feedback because they genuinely believe in what the person is capable of. After enough rounds of revision, the person on the receiving end stops taking risks and stops showing their best work before it’s polished, because polished is the only version that feels safe to share. The intention is to help people produce outstanding work. The outcome is that it quietly makes people afraid to try.
Whether you see yourself in one or all three, know that you’re not alone.
Reflecting on your impact
Awareness is the first step in shifting your Accidental Diminisher tendencies toward the impact you actually intend. Pausing to reflect and look in the mirror to determine how these tendencies show up in the way you lead could prompt that shift.
- Which tendency shows up in your leadership?
- What’s the intention behind it?
- What might be the unintended consequence?
- What’s one small shift you could make to show up more as a Multiplier?
The question all of this reflection points back to:
“How do I bring the best out of the room, not just the best ideas to it?”
Asking yourself this question before a meeting can shift how you show up, how you respond when someone brings you a problem, what you decide to say, and sometimes more importantly, what you might choose to hold back.
Leading as a Multiplier
When you lead as a Multiplier, something shifts for the people around you. They stop waiting to be told what to think and start bringing their best thinking to the table immediately. People who feel valued for what they contribute become the kind of team members who want to be there, not just the ones that have to be, and that energy extends far beyond any single meeting or decision. That’s the ripple effect of a leader who creates space for their team to contribute, not just comply.
Ready to keep growing? Summit is for you
The hardest part of this work isn’t just recognizing your Accidental Diminisher tendencies. It’s that most leaders are recognizing those patterns alone.
When you step into a room with other leaders and share your experience, or the challenges you’re facing at work, you’re finally able to surround yourself with other well-intentioned leaders who genuinely care about the people they lead and are doing that work right alongside you.
Aileron built Summit for this exact reason, to give leaders who care about their impact a place to do the hard, honest work of growing in community with leaders who are asking the same questions. It’s designed for business owners, presidents, CEOs, and senior leaders who are ready to look honestly at how they lead and leave with something they can actually use.
Join us September 22 to 23, 2026 at the Aileron Campus in Tipp City, Ohio. Registration is open now.
