Entrepreneurs and business leaders often ask the wrong questions and try to do everything themselves. They ask “How can we do this?” or “How do we achieve this goal?” instead of “Who can help us to achieve this?” or “Who can do this for us?” In this book, Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy explain how to work with the right people to expand your vision, resources and personal growth for dramatically better results. In this free Who Not How summary, you’ll learn what’s involved and how to use it to gain your freedom of time, money, relationships and purpose.
Who Not How: Introduction
To succeed, you must put in personal effort and become great at what you do. However, if you try to do everything yourself, you’ll end up diluting your energy on lots of tasks. You’ll need a mindset shift from thinking you can do everything yourself to focusing your energy on the areas that leverage your strengths, creativity, and passions and asking for help in other areas.
Stop asking questions like “How should I do this?” or “How should I achieve this personal goal?” When you focus on “how”, you’re restricted to your finite time, resources, skills and experience.
Instead, focus on “who” by asking “Who can help me on my journey to goal attainment?” or “Who can do this for me?” Such questions immediately open up new possibilities you wouldn’t otherwise consider, broadening your potential for individual and collaborative growth.
The “Who Not How” approach is not about exploiting others. It’s about encouraging collaborative ideation and building a collaborative network where each person can offer his/her unique strengths while leveraging others’ strengths. It’s about improving effectiveness of team efforts.
For example, this book is the result of the Who Not How approach. Sullivan is the cofounder of an entrepreneurial coaching company. Hardy suggested writing this book after hearing one of Sullivan’s talks. Sullivan provided the insights, while Hardy wrote the book and published it with the help of Tucker Max. Hardy and Max were Sullivan’s Who for this book, while Sullivan was their Who for expanding their entrepreneurial vision/goals.
Steps to find the Right “Who”
To find the right “Who”, you must:
• Get clear on what you want.
• Communicate your vision widely.
• Ask “who can help me achieve this?”
• Once you’ve found your Who, engage and support them to realize the shared vision.
Here’s a quick overview of how you can gain your freedom progressively with the Who Not How approach.
Gain your Freedom with Who Not How
Gain the Freedom of Time
Each of us has only 24 hours a day. How well you master your time determines how much you can accomplish. With the right “Whos,” you can focus on high-impact activities you enjoy engaging in, spend less time on the things you hate or are bad at, tap on others’ strengths/resources, and expand your quality time with those who matter. The outcome = exponentially better results, personal growth, and less procrastination.
Gain the Freedom of Money
With more collaborative efforts, you’ll have more time to focus on the things that you’re good at. This allows you to increase your earning capacity and eventually attain the Freedom of Money (i.e. having enough money to solve most problems).
Gain the Freedom of Relationships
As you grow your Time and Money Freedoms, you’ll meet world-class mentors and key collaborators who can bring you and your products/services to even greater heights. You’ll also have the flexibility to find perfect partner fits, and expand your overall connections overtime.
Gain the Freedom of Purpose
Each time you create brilliant collaborations with Whos who have complementary strengths/resources and fresh perspectives, you address your gaps/weaknesses, free up your personal time/energy for what matters most, expand your vision, and increase your time freedom, money, and relationships. You become truly free to pursue your dreams instead of getting stuck in the daily routines.
Getting the Most from Who Not How
The book includes many real-life stories of famous people and entrepreneurs coached by Dan Sullivan. If you’d like to learn more about the key principles on how to find the right “Whos” to help you achieve a heightened level of success, do purchase the book here or visit www.strategiccoach.com for more details and resources.
Read our Good to Great summary to find out how the best companies in the world make the leap from “good” to “great” with the right people. Or, learn how to find and hire your right “Whos” with our summary of Who: The A Method for Hiring.
Who should read this:
• Entrepreneurs and business leaders
• People who’re time-strapped and feeling overwhelmed
• Anyone who wants to multiply your productivity, motivation, results and gain eventual freedom.
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Who Not How Chapters
See All Chapters (Click to expand)
Our summaries are reworded and reorganized for clarity and conciseness. Here’s the full chapter listing from Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, to give an overview of the original content structure in the book.
Introduction: What Is Who Not How, and Why Should It Matter to You?
Part 1: Freedom of Time
Chapter 1: “Whos” Create Abundance and Self-Expansion
Chapter 2: The Truth About Procrastination and How to Kill It
Chapter 3: Find Whos for All Aspects of Your Life
Part 2: Freedom of Money
Chapter 4: Time Creates Money
Chapter 5: Commit to Specific Results
Chapter 6: If You Have Enough Money to Solve a Problem, You Don’t Have a Problem
Part 3: Freedom of Relationship
Chapter 7: How to Be a Good Who for Others
Chapter 8: How to Avoid the Wrong Whos, Even Highly Attractive Ones
Chapter 9: How to Create Effective Collaborations
Part 4: Freedom of Purpose
Chapter 10: Stop Competing and Start Collaborating
Chapter 11: Whos Expand Your Vision and Purpose
About the Authors of Who Not How
Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork was written by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy.
Dan Sullivan is a speaker, consultant, strategic planner, and coach. He is a co-founder and president of Strategic Coach, an entrepreneurial coaching company. He is also the author of more than 50 books and publications. For more details, please visit strategiccoach.com.
Dr Benjamin Hardy is an organizational psychologist, author and blogger. HE’s the founder of Slipstream Time Hacking, a business consulting and training company, and a graduate of Clemson University and Brigham Young University. For more details, please visit benjaminhardy.com.
Who Not How Quotes
“Who Not How is about utilizing relationships, and being transformed by them.”
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
“Delegate everything except genius.”
“When you free up your time, you free up your mind.”
“Your ability to succeed is based on the quality of the people in your life.”
“In the world of business and life, collaboration is the name of the game.”
