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

by Dan Sullivan

Once you’re committed to the result you want, you’ll find that Who. When you do find that Who, you’ll see how ridiculously simple it was for them to produce your desired result, then you’ll begin to see just how small you’ve been playing. You’ll begin to set bigger and bigger targets, and you’ll commit to those targets faster by getting the Who that is equipped to produce the result.

Confidence is belief in your ability to imagine, conceptualize, and achieve goals. It is the foundation of imagination. Meta-analytic research shows that confidence is the by-product of recent performance or recent progress toward your goals. By growing your confidence, your imagination and future will simultaneously grow as well.

Stewart is Dean’s chief operations officer. Whenever he has a new idea, Dean tells Stewart, whose responsibility it is to take Dean’s idea and turn it into a reality. Stewart is the leader of the actual team, and he determines who on the team is needed for the projects Dean thinks up.

The famed historian, Will Durant, explained it this way: “The ability of the average man could be doubled if it were demanded, if the situation demanded.” In psychology, this idea is called the Pygmalion Effect, and what it means is that as people, we are either rising or falling to the expectations of those around us. When the demands are high, we show up. When they are low, we settle.

“No one ever lost any advantage by being humble, interested, and useful.”

According to research by Dr. David Logan, a business professor at the University of Southern California, most business cultures are what he calls, “Stage 3 Culture,” which is epitomized by internal competition wherein each person is out for themselves, willing to backstab, gossip, or do whatever it takes to get the position above their colleagues. Much rarer are “Stage 4 Cultures,” which emphasize teamwork and collaboration—focusing on the quality and characteristics of the group rather than the individual. Stage 4 Cultures are far more productive and successful than Stage 3 Cultures in business and sports.