In Southeast Asia’s fast-moving business landscape, the ability to lead, inspire and scale talent is more critical than ever. As organisations expand across borders, leaders must shift from command-and-control leadership to a Multiplier mindset — one that unlocks the intelligence and capabilities of their teams to drive business and people's growth.
What is a Multiplier Leader? The term “Multiplier” was introduced by Liz Wiseman in Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter. These leaders amplify their teams’ intelligence, creating an environment where ideas thrive, people grow and businesses scale faster. Among their key traits:
Attract and optimise talent: Recognise and maximise each team member’s strengths.
Create intensity that requires best thinking: Inspire employees to think bigger and push boundaries.
Extend challenges: Trust teams with high-impact responsibilities to foster ownership and accountability.
Debate decisions: Encourage open discussions to make well-informed, high-quality strategic choices.
Instill ownership: Empower employees to lead initiatives and drive results.
Multiplier vs Diminisher: The Leadership Contrast
A Multiplier expands the potential of their team, while a Diminisher — often unknowingly — limits it. Let’s take a look at the traits of Multiplier leaders versus those of Diminisher leaders:
- Multipliers empower and trust employees / Diminishers micromanage every detail.
- Value diverse ideas and perspectives / Suppress team input and creativity.
- Foster collaboration across functions / Create silos and competition.
- Share knowledge / Openly hoard information for control.
- Develop future leaders / Keep decision-making centralised.
A Diminisher mindset reduces productivity and stifles innovation, which can be disastrous for companies navigating the rapid growth and talent challenges of Southeast Asia.
Applying Multiplier Leadership in Southeast Asia
For leaders in the region, the challenge is not just managing people, but scaling leadership impact across multiple countries, cultures and business models. Here are five practical strategies:
1. Leverage cultural diversity for innovation: With 11 diverse markets in Asean, the best leaders embrace local insights while building a unified leadership culture.
Studies show that companies with diverse leadership teams outperform competitors by 36% in profitability (McKinsey).
2. Foster cross-border collaboration: Encourage knowledge-sharing between teams in different countries.
Example: Grab’s leadership decentralised decision-making, allowing local country teams to adapt faster to consumer needs.
3. Delegate with purpose: Assign tasks that challenge employees and develop future leaders.
Example: Southeast Asian unicorn companies like Gojek and Sea Group empower mid-level leaders to own regional business initiatives.
4. Create a culture of open communication: Remove hierarchy barriers — leaders should listen, debate and refine ideas with their teams.
Example: Google Southeast Asia’s leadership promotes a speak-up culture, where employees can challenge ideas constructively.
5. Commit to continuous learning and growth: Organisations that embed a learning mindset innovate 3 times faster (Harvard Business Review).
Leaders must model continuous learning — attending global forums, mentoring, and staying curious about emerging trends.
The Return on Investment of Multiplier Leadership
Research proves that Multiplier-led organisations outperform their peers in many ways, such as:
Higher employee engagement: Teams feel valued, trusted and empowered.
Greater innovation: Ideas are encouraged, leading to faster market adaptation.
Scalable leadership growth: More leaders emerge, creating sustainable business growth.
Final Thoughts
Southeast Asia’s business landscape is evolving at lightning speed. To stay competitive, leaders must shift from controlling every decision to multiplying the intelligence of their teams.
As Liz Wiseman puts it: “The best leaders aren’t the geniuses in the room; they are the ones who make everyone around them smarter.”
It’s time for executives to lead as Multipliers — unlocking talent, accelerating business growth and shaping the next generation of leaders.
Are you leading as a Multiplier? Or are you holding your team back?
Arinya Talerngsri is Senior Vice President, Local Partner, Managing Director at BTS Thailand (formerly SEAC), part of the BTS Group, a leading global strategy implementation firm. She is passionate about revolutionising education and creating opportunities for Thais and people worldwide. Executives and organisations looking to collaborate or learn more about leadership development, talent development, succession planning and organisational transformation can contact her directly at arinya.talerngsri@bts.com or visit her LinkedIn profile
