Release year: 2021

Publisher: Page Two Books

My Review of The Potentiator

When I was browsing my local Renaissance store for cheap books, I couldn’t resist picking this one up because of its subtitle: “How to Create Breakthroughs with Others in a Post-Pandemic World.” I was hoping it would offer ideas similar to Remote Not Distant, a book I really enjoyed for its practical insights. Instead, it reminded me more of When They Win, You Win, another terrific read—but ultimately, The Potentiator falls short of both.

The Big Idea

The biggest innovation in this book is the term “Potentiator” itself. It’s a fresh alternative to the word “leader,” emphasizing servant leadership over authority. That’s a concept I like—and want to embody myself.

In my view, the core idea of the book can be summed up with this quote:

(p. 127) ⭐ The only way to get ahead is to help others get ahead.

A powerful principle—but does the book live up to it?

Where It Falls Short

My main gripe is the structure. The book felt disorganized. There didn’t seem to be a strong narrative thread, and I had the sense that the chapters could have been shuffled without much consequence.

That lack of cohesion made it difficult to stay engaged. Despite Lipkin’s obvious expertise and long coaching career, reading The Potentiator felt more like attending an energetic motivational talk—uplifting in the moment, but leaving little behind once it’s over.

Many of the points struck me as common sense, without the deeper exploration or actionable frameworks I was hoping for.

Practical Bits (But Not Enough)

To be fair, there are a few hands-on moments. Lipkin invites us to:

List our guiding principles (he shares his ten as an example)
Choose a role model to study and emulate
Reflect on our three biggest failures and the lessons learned
Write our personal value proposition—and even send it to him

Here’s mine:

Felix empowers you to unlock your potential by helping you rediscover the joy of learning. After reading over 100 books to overcome his own learning anxiety, he found a simple key anyone can use to make sense of overwhelming information and grow with confidence. Read Overcoming Learning Anxiety and start learning the way you were meant to—freely, joyfully, and for life.

While I appreciate the exercises, I wish the author had spent more time walking us through how to do them well. The prompts are there, but the depth isn’t. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was mostly left to figure it out on my own.

Final Verdict

If you’re looking for a book on creating breakthroughs with others in a post-pandemic world, I’d recommend Remote Not Distant over this one. And if you want to grow into the role of a “Potentiator,” I’d point you toward When They Win, You Win instead.

In the end, The Potentiator is an enthusiastic coach—not a guide. If you come prepared to do the heavy lifting yourself, you might still get something out of it.

Félix rating:
👎

📚 Vocabulary

(p. 11) Gumption: shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness.
(p. 11) Chutzpah: extreme self-confidence or audacity.
(p. 65) Culled: selected, either as desirable or undesirable, and removed from a larger group
(p. 78) Taking on an eight count: a metaphor borrowed from boxing. In boxing, when a fighter is knocked down, the referee gives them an eight count—counting to eight before allowing the fight to resume. It’s a moment to recover, assess if they’re fit to continue, and catch their breath.

⭐ Star Quotes

(p. 0) “A life if not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” –Jackie Robinson

Introduction

(p. 6) There is no higher accolade than being recognized as someone who helps others play at their best.
(p. 7) In every meeting, we train people how to expect us to be in the next meeting.
(p. 15) Struggle is the essential ingredient of achievement. It signals that you’re pushing your boundaries.
(p. 20) ⭐ Every action is a deposit on the person you want to become.

Chapter 1: The First Potentiator Practice—Know Your Game

(p. 28) Breakthroughs rarely happen in our comfort zones or on our own schedules.
(p. 28) In a world of turbulence, uncertainty, novelty and ambiguity, speed trumps perfection.
(p. 28) Any time you find yourself acting in opposition to a personal principle, it’s not really a personal principle. It may be one that you think you should have or would like to have, but it’s not one that you currently do have.
(p. 34) Whatever you take for granted, you lose.
(p. 41) A mind once stretched can never go back to the way it used to be.
(p. 45) Serendipity is the reward for taking action.
(p. 53) The most trustful question we can ever ask is, “You promise?”
(p. 54) ⭐ You can fool a smart person only once.
(p. 55) Often, the hardest part of any assignment is winning it. Before you can show how good you are, you have to earn the right to do it.
(p. 64) ⭐ Procrastination is an addictive opioid. But the pain of regret expands in direct proportion to the degree of distraction.
(p. 65) Winners are often the people who can sit with a problem the longest.
(p. 65) Focus is the greatest gift we can give anyone.
(p. 65) You cannot give what you do not have. Without personal focus, it’s impossible to focus on others.
(p. 67) Be gentle on yourself when you mess up the first time, even if you mess up the same way a second time. But not the third time.

Chapter 2: The Second Potentiator Practice—Build Robust Resilience

(p. 74) ⭐ Winners will always lose more because they are trying new things.
(p. 74) Learn to be disappointed, not destroyed.
(p. 76) Past failures are the teachers that enable you to educate others.
(p. 76) If you can handle the depths, you can rise to the heights. You can’t have one without the other.
(p. 77) If you’re not having fun while you’re connecting with others, you’re not doing it right. Unless you derive a deep delight from conversations, you won’t make it a pleasure for others.
(p. 77) We’re only as good as the company we keep. And we only keep the company that we constantly earn.
(p. 78) Life is about losing things.
(p. 78) ⭐ It’s not our experiences themselves that make us happy or miserable; it’s the meaning we attach to them that does.
(p. 79) We’re only as happy as the stories we tell ourselves.
(p. 86) Every time you hear no, you grow.
(p. 88) Nos are packed with clues on how to get to yes. They are the staple diet of champions.
(p. 99) Gifts [giftedness] are nothing without the willingness to develop them to the max.
(p. 102) ⭐ The question is not, “Why is this happening to me?” It is “Why not me?” and “How can I make this my finest moment?”

Chapter 3: The Third Potentiator Practice—Grow Courageous Creativity

(p. 117) The best leaders are expected to know the questions, not answers.
(p. 125) “To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.” –Jeff Bezos
(p. 126) What matters about failure is that you learn from it.
(p. 127) ⭐ The only way to get ahead is to help others get ahead.
(p. 130) What have you been postponing that you need to confront?
(p. 135) ⭐ Learning is not a sedentary activity. Epiphanies are the results of joyful sweat.

Chapter 4: The Fourth Potentiator Practice—Communicate Like a Champion

(p. 149) Before making recommendations to someone (e.g. a client), ask four questions:
1. What does success look like to you?
2. What do you hope to achieve through this program?
3. What do you want your people to get out of it?
4. How will we actually measure its impact
(p. 158) Be comfortable being uncomfortable—because the only thing that really matters is how you make other people feel.
(p. 166) When it comes to asynchronous communication, reading is the new listening. Thoroughly read the emails to which you’re responding.

Chapter 5: The Fifth Potentiator Practice—Cultivate Close Connections

(p. 178, 179) Who we allow to get close to us is one of the most important decisions we can make. […] The more connections you have, the less time you can invest in developing each one.
(p. 180) Every time you meet somebody, they should feel energized by that interaction.
(p. 192) When you receive a compliment, accept it with relish. Add a little anecdote about how you acquired the asset being complimented. And lob a compliment back in return.
(p. 193) If you want others to reveal themselves to you, you need to reveal key parts of yourself first.
(p. 193) Be the first person to ask a question or make a comment when the host asks for it. You make it easier for others to follow.
(p. 200) Lucky is an adjective that you want people to apply to you—especially if you become renowned for spreading your luck around.
(p. 207) In real life, cultivating close connections depends on how effectively you express regret if and when things go wrong.
(p. 208) Great apologies share four characteristics:
- They’re authentic
- They express unqualified responsibility for the actions that were taken
- They acknowledge in unambiguous terms that the action was wrong or inappropriate
- They are a declaration of contrition or remorse

(Read 111) The Potentiator