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Written by Caroline Fox, 360 Feedback: A Leadership Blog Contributor

Leadership development is like a tennis match: you can’t do it by yourself unless you’re interested in hitting a wall

With a new Wimbledon winner recently crowned, we encounter an opportunity to look at leadership through the eyes of a tennis ball. Wimbledon, a tradition since 1875, has hosted some of the biggest names in tennis history. Tennis is a mental sport that requires discipline, dedication, and focus—much like time spent in the office. So what connections can we draw from Wimbledon to leadership development? Plenty:

Pick a winning partner
In doubles tennis, it is important to have a partner who can help achieve your goal of winning the match. In leadership development, it is important to pick a partner who can help you achieve your goals of personal development. By "partner" we mean a couple of things.

1.) A great evaluative tool. Playing at Wimbledon with a shoddy racket would create a serious disadvantage to the person using it. Using a racket matching your needs gives a more accurate picture of your playing abilities. Personal development is the same: using an instrument that will not fully evaluate your skill set will present you with a serious disadvantage. To truly see where you need to improve , evaluation is key. This is why we like 360 degree feedback so much. Three-sixty degree feedback provides the opportunity to acquire information from all those around you to evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, and areas of opportunity. We tend to fool ourselves on self-evaluation surveys, so allowing others to take part compiles a more honest look.

Choosing a tool provider is important, too. Make sure that the company you chose has a record of success and can provide both survey validation as well as comparisons to industry norms...

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Book Review...

Written by Liz Wiseman, with Greg McKeown. 2010. NY: HarperBusiness Publishers. 243 pages.
Reviewed by Diane Byington, Ph.D.

Everyone I've spoken with about this book relates an experience working for the two types of leaders discussed in these pages. Around some leaders (the Multipliers) they feel confident about their abilities and are willing to work their hardest, whereas around other leaders (the Diminishers) they feel inept and are unwilling to contribute more than the minimum required to keep the job. Unfortunately, I heard many more stories about the problems of working for a Diminisher than the joys of working for a Multiplier. The focus of this book is understanding the difference between these two leadership styles and learning how to move from being a Diminisher to a Multiplier.

A Multiplier is defined as a leader who is able to understand and solve hard problems rapidly, achieve goals, and adapt and increase the team's capacity over time. A Diminisher is a leader whose...

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