William Kamkwamba endured a year-long famine and survived but dropped out of secondary school due to lack of money. Recovering from the famine and not being able to go school, he took advantage of the free time and a small library and educated himself about power generation. Through his scavenger around the dump site, he created a windmill to power a 12V light-bulbs so that he could study and catch up with the class mates. More importantly, he wanted to use the windmill to pump water and irrigate the farms so that they will never have another famine and be hungry.

This memoir gives me a pretty idea of what it’s like to be living as farmers in Africa. They’re constantly under the threat of cyclical weather and natural elements like pests, but mostly from the corruption and incompetence of the government, who allowed its citizens to die of hunger without recognizing and owning the problem and Malawi is a very small country of only 14M people and 46K sq miles.

The famine story was especially gut wrenching. Hopefully, no one will have to go through that again in this world of abundance. The author’s hunger for knowledge and the tenacity to reach his goal of building the windmill should be inspiring to anyone. And anyone who complains life is hard in the United States or other developed countries should walk in his shoes for a while to appreciate how good of lives we live.

William got his fame from his participation in TED. As a result, he got all the attentions, gifts and help from people all over the world. Is this a beginning of the recognition that Africans may have what it takes to take themselves out of poverty, or is it just another western news-craze way to get the top story of the day and then move on? I hope it’s the former and William took advantage of that to get himself on the right track to become a future leader of Malawi.

Also, William got a true friend in Gilbert, the chief’s son, who funded his project without hesitation and bought into his dream and supported him throughout. That’s true friendship. It’s good to know that William was able to repay him in return in Gilbert’s time of need.

This book is educational to all in the Western world that only heard and read about the Africans’ plight remotely. It drilled deep into the humanity in us to want to help and avoid the next famine for our fellow humans. It’s also hopeful to see there are Africans like William who take responsibility to make changes and refuse to be another victim. Good story!

It’s the battle of Multipliers vs. Diminishers, often within ourselves. This is a good read. Now I’m more equipped to see what types of leaders I’m looking at and what kind of leader I want to become.

Key concepts:
Multipliers get 2x productivity from people than Diminishers plus 5~10% more growth. “People are smart and will figure this out” vs. “They will never figure this out without me.”

Five disciplines of the Multipliers: 1. attract and optimize talent. (Talent magnet vs. empire builders) 2. create intensity that requires best thinking (liberator vs. tyrant). 3. extend challenges (vs. know-it-all). 4. Debate decisions. (debate maker vs. decision maker), 5. Instill ownership and accountability (investor – instill accountability vs. micromanager).

Common characteristics of Multipliers:
1. A Hard edge: Multipliers aren’t “feel-good” managers. They look into people and find capability, and they want to access all of it. They utilize people to their fullest. They see a lot, so they expect a lot.
2. A great sense of humor (George Clooney)
3. The accidental diminisher.

Deep dive into each of the disciplines:
1. Talent Magnet: a. Look for talent everywhere (appreciate all types of genius, ignore boundaries). b. Find people’s native genius. (look for what’s native, Label It. c. Utilize people at their fullest (connect people with opportunities, shine a spotlight). d. Remove the blockers (get rid of Prima Donnas, Get out of the way). Diminishers’ approach to managing to talent: acquire resources, put people in boxes, let talent languish. On becoming a genius watcher: 1. Identify it, 2. Test it, 3. Work it.(define 5 roles for that person)

2. Liberator: three practices: a. create space (operate consistently, level the playing field), b. demand people’s best work (defend the standard), c. generate rapid learning cycles (admit and share mistakes, insist on learning from mistakes. In contrast, Diminishers dominate the space, create anxiety, judge others. To become a Liberator: 1. play your chips (to count your interruptions), 2. label your opinions (soft vs. hard), 3. make your mistakes known (get personal, go public).

3. Challenger: 1. seed the opportunity (show the need, challenge the assumption, reframe problems, create a starting point), 2. lay down a challenge (mission impossible, extend a concrete challenge, ask the hard questions, let others fill in the blanks), 3. Generate belief (helicopter down, lay out a path, co-create the plan, orchestrate an early win. In contrast, the Diminishers’ approach to setting direction: tell what they know, test what you know, tell people how to do their jobs. To become a challenger: a. a serious case of curiosity, go extreme with questions, take a bus trip to see the real thing, take a massive baby step (en mass visibly together).

4. The Debate Maker: The decider vs. a team of rivals. a. frame the issue (define the question, form the team, assemble the data, frame the decision), b. Spark the debate (create safety for best thinking – the yin, demand rigor – the yang), c. drive a sound decision. To become a debate maker: 3 rules to share inquiry: discussion leader only asks questions, must supply support evidence to support their theories, everyone participates. Ask the hard questions, ask for the data, ask each person.

5. The Investor: a. define ownership (name the lead, give ownership for the end goal, stretch the role), b. invest resources (teach and coach, provide backup), c. Hold people accountable (give it back, expect complete work, respect natural consequences, make the scoreboard visible). On becoming an investor: 1.let them know who is the boss, 2. let nature takes its course (let it happen, talk about it, focus on next time), 3. ask for the F-I-X, 4. hand back the pen.

Lazy-way strategies: 1. work the extremes (focus your development on the two extremes – bring up your lowest low and take your highest high to the next level), 2. start with the assumption, 3. take the 30-day Multiplier challenge (pick one practice within one discipline and work it for 30 days.) To sustain momentum: 1. build it layer by layer, 2. stay with it for a year, 3. build a community.

This book is as much about Dewey the cat as about Vicki Myron, the author’s life and family. Indeed, Dewey is a very smart cat that came with a very interesting survival story (being abandoned in a dropbox of a public library in Spencer, Iowa under a cold, blizzard condition). It helped that Dewey had an outgoing and friendly personality and knew how to read the body languages of people and took appropriate actions to gain the love and trust of people in a small town, and then eventually the world when he became famous. Of course, the author’s own life story (married to an alcoholic husband and battled many illnesses including breast cancer) is just as interesting as Dewey and draws parallelism to that of Dewey.

From the book, I came to understand a little about the typical Iowa people and their life, history, and personality. Like the corn crops they grow, the Iowa people are down to earth and take the tough life as they are. The author’s life and her mental toughness battling the tragedies (death of her two brothers, and mother) of her family and herself serves as a good example. Libraries may not seem to be a desirable community hangout place for the people, but Dewey’s presence makes the differences. People were coming to the library to read and learn and check up their favorite cat, Dewey.

This is a good book to read if you’re down on your luck and feel pity for yourself. Dewey teaches us to be significant in a small way that makes a big difference – just to be there and be a good comforter and listener. The author and many people in Spencer, Iowa and the world have been changed because of Dewey, so will many readers.