“Leadership legacies are not just about winning the game. Leaders create legacies when they transform the game. We’re all in the business of creating breakthroughs with others. In this book, Mike Lipkin shows you a practical approach to turning fantasies into dreams, and dreams into legacies. I love it!”
- Silvio Stroescu, President, BMO InvestorLine, at BMO Financial Group

The Potentiator

Every day we’re faced with a future that seems more daunting than the day before. The problems appear bigger than ever but so do the opportunities. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and alone in the face of such cataclysmic change. 

That’s why we’re only as good as the Potentiators we purposefully place in our lives. They are the everyday superheroes whose superpower is to enable us to perform at our best. In turn, we need to intentionally play that role for other people. That’s how breakthroughs are created in a post-pandemic world. In this heart-stirring guide, Mike Lipkin shows you how to succeed at others’ success, while you live your best life. Specifically, he introduces you to The Five Potentiator Practices that will multiply your impact and scale your results: Know Your Game. Build Robust Resilience. Grow Courageous Creativity. Communicate Like a Champion. And Cultivate Close Connections. 

Through revealing case studies, research-backed insights, and powerful exercises, you’ll discover how to transform yourself into the Potentiator – to the enormous benefit of everyone around you. You won’t be derailed by distraction. You’ll be driven by the thrill of discovery. Now more than ever, the world needs you to unleash your superpower. Mike Lipkin shows you how.

The Potentiator Book Cover

There is no higher accolade than being recognized as someone who helps others play at their best. Being the Potentiator means purposefully engaging with people in such a way that they regard you as that person.

The Five Potentiator Practices That Will Enable You To Create Breakthroughs With Others In A Post-Pandemic World

Game: a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules; an area of expertise; willing or ready to proceed; having or showing a resolute spirit. ADAPTED FROM MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM

Know your inner and outer game so well that you define the way it should be played. Be Self-Savvy. Harness the Power of Personal Principles. Discern Your Impact. Perform Your Role. Develop Situational Sensibility. Ask yourself, WWMD – “What would Mandela do?” Pursue the Power of Serendipity. Know the trends. Make a Powerful Promise. Declare your purpose. Keep your eyes on the prize. Express your value proposition. Focus your execution

The First Potentiator Practice | Know Your Game

Be elastic. Recover your original shape or spirit. Robust Resilience isn’t just a passive capacity to endure setbacks or losses; it’s an active skill that can be strengthened with practice and awareness. 

Swim towards the wave. Learn to be disappointed, not destroyed. Interpret to win through Robust Resilient Responses. Go for No. Love your competition. Consciously create your best reality through homeostasis. Stick with it. Practice for real: be worthy of your gifts. Be a doer, not a wisher.

The Second Potentiator Practice Build Robust Resilience

Creativity is the elixir that enables you to transcend the gravity of “what is” in order to manifest “what can be.” Free yourself from the pull of your past, from the fear of your future, from the concerns about looking stupid to others, from the need to fit in, from the constrictions of your personal identity, from the established rules of the game.

Suspend your disbelief. Take your moonshot. Express your inner genius. Get curious. Believe in your creative superpower. Be a beginner. Unleash your imagination: be a perennial. Ask questions. Slay your Goliath. Experiment like Edison, Bezos and Dyson. Study Toastmasters. Let them see what it takes. Talk, listen and learn. Use The Potentiator Phrases.

The Third Potentiator Practice Grow Courageous Creativity

Practice C.A.R.E. – Be Clear, Authoritative, Reassuring, Empowering. 

Assume the persona of a communicator. Let your whole self come out to play. Be a champion of something. Know your style. Know your outcome. Have a roadmap. Connect others to their purpose. Strip away the inessentials. Speak the language of the people you’re speaking to. Talk louder and slower. Lean in. Inspire while you inform. Assess your IQ – your Inspiration Quotient. Promote the people around you. Improvise with ease, especially when it’s hard. Be eloquent with your emails. Make the Big Ask

The Fourth Potentiator Practice Communicate Like a Champion

Every time you meet somebody, they should feel energized by that interaction. 

Connect with people who have the power to make a difference on your behalf. Combine touch and technology. Abide by Dunbar’s Number: live by the Law of 150. Mobilize your mobilizers. Enhance your empathy to earn the most valuable currency of all: reciprocity. Go first and go deep. Become an Outsider-Insider. Don’t be manic, be talismanic. Embrace a philosophy of philanthropy. Don’t just be trustworthy, be faithworthy. Come through in the Crucible Moments. Master the art of the apology. Close with grace. 

The Fifth Potentiator Practice Cultivate Close Connections

How to use this book

“I want my readers to say within the first few pages, 'Finally, here is a book that is going to help me to make sense of things that don’t make sense to me. It’s going to help me navigate my way through my future so I can make the biggest impact in the next normal.'" ~ Mike Lipkin

“The phrase I most like to hear from others is, ‘I never thought of it that way.’ Sometimes a mere nuance can make a massive difference. Often all it takes is a slight pivot in your direction to discover a whole new vista of opportunity.

That’s how I want you to read this book. Don’t agree immediately with what I say. Just don’t immediately disagree with it. Resist the temptation to state, ‘that’s impossible.’ Be open to the possibility that a single sentence can endow you with the superpower to change someone’s life, including your own. Ask yourself a simple question: ‘How can this insight help me give others exactly what they need in this moment – including myself?’

Every breakthrough has a gestation period. Sometimes it’s as short as a second and sometimes it can take almost forever. Take all the time you need. When the student is ready, the breakthrough happens. There is a reason why you’re reading this. Find it.

Just as a recipe has both ingredients and sequence, there is a specific flow to the Potentiator Practices. Go with it. I write books for people who don’t have time to read. I want you to ‘get it’ quickly and intuitively. 

In every chapter, I assign you specific steps to master each Potentiator Practice. I call them “Make Your Breakthrough” because any one of them could elevate you to the next level. Stop and ponder each one. Then do something, even if it seems awkward or out of character with who you believe yourself to be. You’ll discover things about yourself that could redefine those beliefs. Every action is a deposit on the person you want to become.

There are mind-blowing insights and stories that await you in this book. You have to read them to believe them. Don’t worry if you’re ready. Don’t even worry about getting ready. Just get started. Let’s go.”

PRaISE FOR THE POTENTIATOr

“Leadership legacies are not just about winning the game. Leaders create legacies when they transform the game. We’re all in the business of creating breakthroughs with others. In this book, Mike Lipkin shows you a practical approach to turning fantasies into dreams, and dreams into legacies. I love it!”
Silvio Stroescu
President, BMO InvestorLine, at BMO Financial Group
“Mike Lipkin has been one of my Potentiators for many years. The practices outlined in The Potentiator will help me improve on the things that really matter. I had fun reading this book and encourage you to do the same!”
Mike Parra
CEO, Americas, at DHL Express
“Whether it’s on the page or on a stage, Mike Lipkin is always timely, relevant, provocative, insightful and inspiring. The Potentiator is a tactical and strategic roadmap to creating breakthroughs for yourself and for the people around you.”
Martin Perelmuter
Co-founder and president, Speakers’ Spotlight
“Early in my career, Mike Lipkin helped me unlock my leadership potential. The Potentiator expresses Mike’s best insights in ways that are immediately actionable.”
Dani Reiss
President and CEO, Canada Goose Inc.
“Mike Lipkin has always provided me with awesome guidance. I’m inspired about creating my next breakthrough moment. After reading this book, you will be too.”
Karen Werger
CPA, CA, CBV, global leader valuations and modeling, Deloitte LLP
“The Potentiator is essential reading for anyone who wants to build trust with others. The Potentiator Practices that Mike Lipkin shares in this book are priceless.”
Lisa Kimmel
Chair and CEO, Edelman Canada
“I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating many times with Mike Lipkin, whether he is presenting his insights at a workshop, acting as a mentor or sharing his personal journey to encourage and educate. I love reading his books because they’re a treat for my brain and my heart. His latest offering, The Potentiator, is signature Mike: he motivates, encourages and inspires readers as they journey toward positive change. Change is hard work but imminently possible. The Potentiator illuminates the path.”
Dr. Diane McIntosh
Chief neuroscience officer, Telus, and author of This Is Depression

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The Potentiator is available in multiple formats and is available from multiple sources. Below are the recommended options. 

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Mike Lipkin

About Mike Lipkin

Mike Lipkin is president of Environics/Lipkin, a global research and motivation company based in Toronto. He is also an international strategic coach, guide and Potentiator to leaders everywhere. His passion is creating breakthroughs with others by any means possible. He combines his personal experience of having talked to over a million people in 67 countries with his rigorous research on extraordinary performance. Mike was raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. He immigrated to Toronto, Canada, in 2001, where he now lives with his wife, Hilary. This is his eighth book.

START A CONVERSATION WITH MIKE

Talk to Mike about how he can empower you and your team to become Potentiators through his customized live keynotes, seminars and workshops.

33 Bloor Street East, Suite 1020
Toronto ON Canada M4W 3H1
416.969.2822
mike.lipkin@environics.ca
www.mikelipkin.com