INTRODUCTION
Dan Sullivan is the cofounder of Strategic Coach, the number one entrepreneurial coaching company in the entire world. Dan has trained tens of thousands of the very best entrepreneurs to become even better. He helps his entrepreneurs clarify their “Unique Ability”—the activities that bring them the most excitement and energy and produce the biggest impact—and then find Whos to take care of everything else. (Location 224)
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. (Location 243)
DELEGATION IS NOT EXPLOITATION
“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” —Ronald Reagan (Location 294)
“How” is linear and slow. “Who” is non-linear, instantaneous, and exponential. (Location 470)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
“How” limits you to your own knowledge and capabilities. “How” requires that you be the one to engage your time and attention into the particular task. “How” decreases your Freedom of Time. “Who” immediately connects you with different knowledge, insights, and capability. “Who” is about getting the desired result as effectively as possible. “Who” can immediately free up hundreds of hours, which you can spend in better and more meaningful ways. “Who” expands your vision for what is possible, because you no longer see yourself as the sole means of achieving the result. Self-expansion is a core human motivation, and it occurs through Whos. (Location 636)
ASAP? (Location 692)
goal. (Location 711)
The Impact Filter, as a one-page document, solves this most pervasive leadership conundrum, and is comprised of the following questions: What is the project? Purpose: What do you want to accomplish? Importance: What’s the biggest difference this will make? Ideal Outcome: What does the completed project look like? Best Result: If you do take action? Worst Result: If you don’t take action? Success Criteria: What has to be true when this project is finished? (Location 729)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
People waste a large portion of their lives procrastinating. Procrastination is the by-product of having a goal and asking “How?” instead of “Who?” Procrastination has many negative effects, such as decreased well-being, frustration, and ultimately, a loss of ambition. Paradoxically, though, procrastination is actually wisdom. It is your inner genius saying, “This goal is amazing! But you’re not the one to do everything involved!” Leadership involves being clear and explicit about the vision. (Location 799)
The Impact Filter is a one-page tool for defining the vision or goal and why it is so important for all Whos involved. Asking “Who can help me achieve this?” may be a stretch if you’ve never truly committed to huge goals. There are countless brilliant and capable Whos out there waiting and wanting to help you. They need only to hear and understand your vision. (Location 804)
CHAPTER 3 FIND WHOS FOR ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE
result. (Location 896)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Your potential is virtually limitless when you stop asking “How?” and start asking “Who?” When you ask “Who?” you can create results 10X or even 100X faster than if you ask “How?” You can apply Who Not How both personally and professionally. You can free up thousands of future hours by finding Whos. By freeing yourself up from Hows, you’ll have a reborn sense of purpose and clarity. You’ll feel like you’ve been given another life to live. Every 90 days, you can free up your time, energy, and focus by getting Whos to support your ambitions in all aspects of your life. (Location 937)
CHAPTER 4 TIME CREATES MONEY
“Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.” —Peter Drucker (Location 946)
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. (Location 1124)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
You can’t have money freedom until you achieve time freedom. By freeing up your time, you get the invaluable benefit of freeing up your mind. By freeing up your time, you can focus on higher impact activities—such as strategizing or creating—which will automatically increase your income. Improving how you spend your time automatically improves your ability to make money. Making the single decision to add a Who to a specific area of your life eliminates decision fatigue in that area. Eliminating decision fatigue from your life should be one of your primary goals if you want to be a high performer and increase your income. (Location 1145)
CHAPTER 5 COMMIT TO SPECIFIC RESULTS
Every time you invest in a vision, your commitment to that vision increases. By investing in that initial Who, as well as experiencing the painful lessons along the way, Nicole got committed. Psychologists call this Escalation of Commitment: Every time you invest yourself in something, you become more committed to it. (Location 1173)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
If you’re truly committed to a result, you’ll need to focus on Who, not How. Extreme commitment comes from clarity of vision and the autonomy to execute that vision in whatever way the Who sees fit. Transformational leaders invest in their Whos, challenge them, help them clearly see the vision, and ultimately, get their Whos just as committed and invested as they are. Without clarity of vision, autonomy is not effective. With clarity of vision, as well as consistent feedback on results, autonomy leads to high performance. Leaders should be committed to results, not to a particular process. Rather than micromanaging the process, leadership should provide freedom and autonomy as well as extreme clarity and high standards of excellence. (Location 1256)
CHAPTER 6 IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM, YOU DON’T HAVE A PROBLEM
“Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution toward the things that really matter.” —Greg McKeown (Location 1341)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Focusing on How will greatly limit your ability to make money. Believing that doing all of the Hows yourself is noble is a limiting belief. It’s not noble. When you focus on How, it’s often based on a scarcity mind-set and cost avoidance. Trying to avoid costs by engaging in Hows will cost you and your future huge in the long run. By seeing Whos as an investment, rather than a cost, you can quickly 10X or more your income and revenue. By seeing Whos as an investment, rather than a cost, you can create transformational relationships, in which all parties give more than they take, rather than transactional ones. By seeing yourself as an investment, rather than a cost, you can expand your Freedom of Time, Money, Relationship, and Purpose. (Location 1402)
CHAPTER 7 HOW TO BE A GOOD WHO FOR OTHERS
“What you seek is seeking you.” —Rumi (Location 1443)
“Try not to become a man of success, but a man of value. Look around at how people want to get more out of life than they put in. A man of value will give more than he receives.” —Albert Einstein (Location 1457)
“The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.” —William James (Location 1515)
Psychological research has found that people who practice gratitude consistently report a host of benefits: Physical Stronger immune systems Less bothered by aches and pains Lower blood pressure Exercise more and take better care of their health Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking Psychological Higher levels of positive emotions More alert, alive, and awake More joy and pleasure More optimism and happiness Social More helpful, generous, and compassionate More forgiving More outgoing Feel less lonely and isolated (Location 1521)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Never enter a relationship without having first created value in that relationship. Never stop creating value and nurturing your relationships. Always ask “What’s in it for them?” rather than “What’s in it for me?” Know what the other person cares about. Get to know them, their context, and their goals. Give relevant value. Don’t waste their time. Do your homework. If you want to develop transformational relationships, then approach relationships in a transformational, rather than transactional, way. Bring a result to the table. Make the pie bigger for everyone involved. Don’t come with big promises of future results. Bring immediate results. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Be a generous giver who is truly committed to service and growth, not status. Be nice to the people you meet on the way up because they are the same people you meet on the way down. Be grateful in large and small ways to the people in your life and you’ll attract incredible abundance. (Location 1532)
CHAPTER 8 HOW TO AVOID THE WRONG WHOS, EVEN HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE ONES
“Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.” —attributed to Mark Twain (Location 1651)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
In order to have Freedom of Relationship, you can no longer engage with people that don’t align with your vision. You can build buffers and systems to ensure you no longer directly work with people who aren’t relevant. As you say no to people and opportunities that don’t align with the vision of your future self, your confidence will increase. Your team will also become more confident in you as a leader. Your current self no longer tolerates situations and people that your former self once tolerated. Your future self will not tolerate nor engage with situations or people that you currently tolerate. As you make courageous decisions based on the future you want to create, you can make bolder leaps into your freedom and success. (Location 1685)
CHAPTER 9 HOW TO CREATE EFFECTIVE COLLABORATIONS
“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” —Reid Hoffman (Location 1694)
“Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.” —Viktor Frankl quoting Spinoza’s Ethics in Man’s Search for Meaning (Location 1764)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Wherever you see brilliant work happening, collaboration is happening. You don’t have all the answers. It’s wise to consider yourself ignorant on most things, and to seek other people’s perspectives and solutions. Apply the 80 percent rule to move projects forward by not over-obsessing about your part of the project. Get feedback fast! Be radically open and honest in your communication. Ask for help when you need it. Seek to be a hero to those you work with, and you’ll do your best work for them. (Location 1817)
CHAPTER 10 STOP COMPETING AND START COLLABORATING
“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” —Ayn Rand (Location 1826)
“Too much self-centered attitude, you see, brings, you see, isolation. Result: loneliness, fear, anger. The extreme self-centered attitude is the source of suffering.” —Dalai Lama (Location 1892)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Focusing on “How” makes you rigid and non-collaborative in your thinking. Focusing on “How” stresses you out, because you’re already busy and can’t juggle it all. Focusing on “How” leads you to being isolated in your goals, and ultimately slows your progress. Being isolated in your goals diminishes your dreams. Competition stunts creative innovation and limits your future. Collaboration immediately expands your Freedom of Purpose and vision, because what you can do with others is exponentially more than what you can do by yourself. Collaboration allows you to focus on what you want to focus on and not feel guilty about getting help. Collaboration transforms the initial intent of the project into something surprisingly better and more impactful than you would have planned on your own. By expanding your vision, your Freedom of Purpose also expands. (Location 1947)
CHAPTER 11 WHOS EXPAND YOUR VISION AND PURPOSE
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” —Helen Keller (Location 1979)
“I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.” —Bob Dylan (Location 2070)
CHAPTER TAKEAWAYS
Only through Whos can the most important miracles and blessings happen in your life. Only through Whos can your purpose and life be transformed and expanded. Whos help you see potential in your future, and in your work, that you can’t presently see for yourself. Whos expand your vision, giving you the confidence to pursue big goals. Your Whos become your purpose. (Location 2121)