Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

by Dan Sullivan

Who Not How is truly that simple. You define the vision, find the Who or Whos, and let them create the result.

That’s what real leadership is: Creating and clarifying the vision (the “what”), and giving that vision greater context and importance (the “why”) for all Whos involved. Once the “what” and “why” have clearly been established,

the specified “Who” or “Whos” have all they need to go about executing the “How.” All the leader needs to do at that point is support and encourage the Who(s)...

When you’re trying to accomplish something challenging or difficult that you’ve never done before, you probably need a Who. Let me say that another way: You absolutely need a Who if you’re trying to accomplish something new and challenging, unless you’re fine not getting the result you want in the near future.

Having freedom to relax, recover, play, or do whatever you want is crucial for entrepreneurial creativity, success, and longevity.

As it turns out, this isn’t just a fancy idea. Research shows that only 16 percent of creative insight happens while you’re at work.

The first Who is always yourself: Improve yourself, value yourself, and ensure that you are in optimal form—happy, creative, and connected to the most important people in your life.

But also, get other people’s resources to help you achieve what you can’t alone. Get their knowledge, time, and connections.

Free yourself from having to do it all alone. Focus

procrastination is actually a form of wisdom. Procrastination

The question is: Will you find that help or just sit by yourself? The bigger your personal ambition, the more procrastination you’ll experience.

The first and most common approach is to ask yourself, “How do I do this?” This generally leads to more procrastination. “How?” is the question society and our public education system have trained us to ask the moment we have a goal or desire.

“Who can help me with this?” By doing so, you can stop procrastinating and feeling discouraged. Instead, you can experience an injection of energy, confidence, and creativity.

Asking “Who?” is the automatic response you need to develop every time you think of a new goal or desire.

Be radically explicit about your goals. Ask yourself: Who can help me accomplish this goal?

When you’ve defined what you want—and are very clear on all of the criteria for success—then you’ve got something that you can not only visualize but communicate. As you communicate what you want to the world, your vision will crystalize, and like the one car you can easily spot among the hundreds, you’ll be able to find the

Whos. Indeed, the right Whos will find you.

Dan is able to give the relevant Whos the needed information to go and successfully execute. Far too often, the Who lacks critical clarity not only about the overall vision, but about their role in that vision. Therefore, they can’t bring their available resources to the table. Or, they can’t find other Whos who have the needed resources.

Now that you’ve clarified and become explicit about your goal, you must refrain from trying to figure out “How” to accomplish it. This may be a new practice for you.

All you need to do is tell them your vision. Spell it out for them. The Impact Filter actually does that for you. Then ask yourself: “Who can help me accomplish this goal?”

Unless you’re brilliant at finding Whos, you should probably find a Who to find your Whos. For example, my executive assistant, Whitney Bishop, is a pro at finding, screening, and hiring people.

That’s pretty amazing, if you think about it. There is an army of ready and willing Whos; capable people out there who want to do the very work you need done. All you need to do is communicate your vision to those people and define what successful completion looks like. As you develop relationships with them, you’ll expand as a person, immediately having greater ability to produce your desired results.

“Having a capability is not an obligation to use it.”

he enthusiastically told me: “I now realize that my potential is virtually limitless when I focus on Who instead of How. My goals are not constrained by me. There are endless Whos out there and I can add that capability to anything I’m trying to accomplish.”

“What is the ultimate quantification of success? For me, it’s not how much time you spend doing what you love. It’s how little time you spend doing what you hate.” —Casey Neistat

“I get to refocus and repurpose, instead of retire,” he said. “It’s almost like I have a whole new life given back to me.”

Not How. When I launched my first book, Willpower Doesn’t Work,

“You can have everything you love in life as long as you give up what you hate.”

This brings us to the primary issue with leadership: Lack of clarity of vision and inability to articulate that vision leaves Whos with no identity and no clear purpose.

radical clarity,

being committed to the results and flexible to the process, too many leaders obsessively micromanage the process of their Whos.

These beliefs daunted Carl for many years. Carl was pressured to go into management because, from his father’s point of view, that would be the surest path to “success.” Management was viewed as risk-free and would allow Carl to have much more than his parents had.

“Had I hired that guy seven years ago, we would have likely made another fourteen to fifteen million pounds,” Carl stated directly. That was the last straw for Carl. He decided to go all in on Who Not How.

Genius Network, which is how I was able to connect with Dan Sullivan, Tucker Max, and Reid Tracy.

Whos are an investment.

First and foremost, when it comes to connecting with someone, you should want to be connected with them. It shouldn’t be a chore. There shouldn’t be any desire to avoid contact or escape from them.

Rather than asking, “What’s in it for me?” which is the common question, Joe asks, “What’s in it for them?”

The moral to the story: Don’t reach out to someone unless you have something meaningful to offer them.