Mr Jeff was a humble and cognitive professional in an MNC in Chennai. He was a multiplier of intelligence. He had the art of sneaking into others’ brains and understanding the level of intelligence built over some time.

He shifted to a domestic retail chain firm with 400 employees. He became the CEO of the firm. The board gave Jeff a task of 30 % growth in the current financial year. As the CEO, he gathered the management team to understand what the current intellectual level is. To his astonishment, the workforce was underutilised. He saw a mere 20 % of the intelligence was into use.

Jeff took three months to analyse all employees’ intellectual power and what they could contribute to the 30 % growth. After a rigorous mind searching, he concluded that systemic challenges would help them to put their intelligence into action.

He never asked them to use their intelligence. He always asked hard questions and gave them the freedom to find solutions. Over time, he was able to extract another 30 % of their intelligence. Which in turn, resulted a 30 % growth.

Moral: As a CEO, tap the existing intelligence and trigger the business*