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

by Dan Sullivan

What would happen for us if we, gleaning this precious insight, would shift our mind-set from “how” to “who”? What would be possible for you if your capabilities and potential were expanded by other brilliant Whos? In looking at your own life for a moment, how much of it are you trying to shoulder alone, for one reason or another?

What are YOU trying to accomplish? Do you have Whos in your life that give you the perspectives, resources, and ability to go beyond what you could do alone? Or are you keeping your goals so small to make them easier to accomplish them on your own?

Do you really think you must be the one to put in the blood, sweat, and tears, bearing the whole load to prove your capability?

It can be easy to focus on How, especially for high achievers who want to control what they can control, which is themselves. It takes vulnerability and trust to expand your efforts and build a winning team. It takes wisdom to recognize that 1) other people are more than capable enough to handle much of the Hows, and 2) that your efforts and contribution (your “Hows”) should be focused exclusively where your greatest passion and impact are. Your attentio...

Results, not effort, is the name of the game. You are rewarded in life by the results you produce, not the effort and time you put in. All too often, there is a lack of commitment to results an...

This book argues that with each ascending level of success, your ability to produce results will be more and more contingent on Whos, not Hows. By focusing on Who you work with and not How you achieve your goals, your level of accomplishment, and thus freedom, will dramatically increase in all key areas—time, money, relationships, and purpose.

Whenever you imagine a bigger and better future, there’s a problem. You don’t currently know how to achieve the goal, because it’s bigger and better than your current situation and capabilities.

A much better question is: “Who can help me achieve this?”

Dan said: “Let’s do this. Here’s what success looks like. Here’s why this project is so important for us. Here’s what we gain if we succeed. Here’s what’s at stake if we fail. I’m here if you need me. Go!”

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) through the process.

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.

When the vision is important enough, the right team of Whos will come together.

“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” —Ronald Reagan

This is one of the keys of Who Not How: With the right Whos in place, your vision and purpose will expand dramatically.

Your purpose and vision expand when you have powerful Whos who can take your goals to places you couldn’t have imagined yourself.

When you develop collaborations, particularly with world-class talent, projects and businesses can quickly expand far beyond the initial concept.

Rather than viewing people or services as a “cost,” as in the transactional mind-set, everything is viewed as an investment, with the possibility of 10X (10 times), 100X, or even bigger returns and change.

“The only way to make your present better is by making your future bigger.”

If you’re courageous enough to pursue big goals, you’ll need Whos to help you. You’ll need Whos to transform your vision, giving it greater purpose and possibility than your initial thoughts could.

By letting Whos take care of the Hows, the final product will actually be different, and better, than you initially imagined.

Not only must the Who fully own the How, but they must have complete permission to do so.

If you’re going to apply higher levels of teamwork in your life, you’ll need to relinquish control over how things get done.

“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.”

A core aspect of leadership is being explicit about the vision. The more explicit you are in what you want, the faster you’ll attract the right Whos to help you achieve that vision. The leader explains the “What” and “Why” and then allows the “Who” to execute the “How.”

Are you playing checkers or chess? What is the level of vision you have for yourself? Does your game involve powerful Whos to help you win? Do you seek to be surprised by what could happen?

As the famous quote says: “Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” —Buddha

That’s the power of having a Who—you instantly get access to knowledge, insights, resources, and capabilities that are not currently available to you. “How” is linear and slow. “Who” is non-linear, instantaneous, and exponential.

Who Not How is about utilizing relationships, and being transformed by them.

“All progress starts with telling the truth.”

“You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, though all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last.” —Lucius Annaeus Seneca

When you have a Self-Managing Company of capable Whos, Dan explained, you work less but accomplish much more. In a Self-Managed Company, your Whos manage themselves; they aren’t managed by you. They have full responsibility for how they handle themselves because you’ve made the vision abundantly clear and exciting. You’ve then given them full ownership over executing and achieving the vision in whatever way suits them.

This should be the goal of every entrepreneur. Having freedom to relax, recover, play, or do whatever you want is crucial for entrepreneurial creativity, success, and longevity.

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.

All she needed was a goal (a “what”), a reason (a “why”), and a Who.

You can accomplish a million times more if you stop asking “How?” and start getting Whos.

The resources you obtain through relationships can be material, like money, possessions, or friendship networks. But resources also include the other person’s perspectives, such as how they appreciate the world and ascribe explanations for people’s behaviors. Resources may even be their time, attention, or help.

Desirability: the perceived total amount of self-expansion that is possible for us through that specific relationship. Probability: the perceived likelihood that a close relationship with that specific individual can actually be formed.

What all of this tells us is that our efficacy, capability, and potential as human beings is not absolute, innate, or fixed. It is always contextual, relational, and fluid. What you can accomplish in relation to some people is very different from what you can do in relation to others. What you can learn and become with some people is different than with others.

The point here is, as you engage in relationships, you expand your efficacy as a person. Your efficacy is your ability to produce results, and it is based on the resources you have to put toward those results. Resources can be financial, but they can also be so much more than that. Encouragement, time, and focus are just as essential as monetary support.

If you’re focused on doing everything yourself, then you are dramatically limiting the resources you can direct toward your goals. If your resources are limited, your potential, your options, and your future are limited too.

But as you combine your efforts with other Whos, your efficacy immediately increases. Relationships are how you transform as a person. Relationships are how you transcend your current limitations. Relationships are how you produce results. Relationships are the purpose of life.

“The opposite of addiction is not sobriety—it is human connection.”

Employees, collaborators, and consultants work for you not because they are beneath you, but because they believe in you. You become an incredibly important Who in their life, giving them a mission to be part of, a way to provide for themselves and their families, and a way to build competence and confidence.

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

Take a look at your life right now: Where are you lacking collaboration and teamwork? Where is your vision so small that you’re doing everything by yourself? Where do you need more Whos to help you accomplish what you ultimately want to do? What relationships do you already have that are being under-utilized?

Getting Whos involved in your goals is an investment. Often, we lack the commitment to make such an investment. We aren’t fully sold on our goals ourselves, so why would we include others in our goals?

Yet, people often don’t make such investments, and as a result, never experience the increased commitment, motivation, and focus that comes with it.

You control your own level of commitment to your future. You control your own level of potential for expansion. By making the courageous step of investing in Whos, your capacity as a person increases.

“Our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for.”