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Who not How
What It’s About
Who Not How presents a new mindset of entrepreneurship, goal-setting, and collaboration. The Who Not How mindset, developed by business coach Dan Sullivan, demonstrates the importance of delegating tasks to others.
Three Key Ideas
Find the Right Who
Asking who can help you achieve a goal, rather than how to do it yourself, unlocks results beyond your individual capabilities.
Delegation Frees Time and Money
Handing off tasks to skilled people gives you time to focus on high-impact work, which directly increases your income potential.
Collaboration Over Competition
Treating partnerships as a requirement, not a luxury, broadens the scope of any goal and produces outcomes neither party could reach alone.
Read a Sample
The book in 3 sentences: Instead of asking, “How will I do this?” ask yourself, “Who can help me accomplish this?” The right Whos in your life will free up your time. You'll make more money if you find the Whos who complement your Hows. Favorite quotes: “Someone once told me the definition of hell. The last day you spend on Earth, the person you’ve become meets the person you could have been.” “If you stack up enough tomorrows, you’ll realize there’s nothing left but a bunch of empty yesterdays.” “Personal self-confidence comes from heading toward goals that are much bigger than your current capabilities.”
Key points: The Whos in your life play a defining role. Procrastination does real damage. Time freedom brings financial freedom with it. Results come before processes. Value creation comes in different types, and it matters. Collaboration widens the freedom of your goals. The Defining Role of “Whos” in Your Life.
It’s 1984, and the Chicago Bulls have just signed a brilliant young player named Michael Jordan. It doesn't take long to see that he's one of the best players in the NBA, if not the very best.
Yet for all Jordan’s effort, his first three seasons with the Bulls end with early exits from the postseason. His individual athletic genius doesn’t win the team any championships, and the Bulls can't even get past the first round of the playoffs.
So instead of trying to figure out on his own how to win a title, Jordan looks for someone whose skills can complement his own in a team sport. What he needs isn't a How. It's a Who.
Who It’s For
- Anyone who feels stuck doing everything themselves and can't seem to make progress on their biggest goals.
- Anyone who wants to grow a business or career but keeps running out of time and energy.
- Anyone who struggles with procrastination and wants a practical way to break the cycle.
- Anyone who wants to build meaningful professional relationships instead of purely transactional ones.
About the Author: Dan Sullivan
Dan Sullivan is the founder and president of Strategic Coach, one of the longest-running entrepreneurial coaching programs in the world. He has spent decades coaching successful entrepreneurs and business leaders, helping them clarify their vision and scale their impact.
Sullivan is a prolific author and speaker whose ideas center on how entrepreneurs can multiply their results by focusing on their unique strengths and delegating everything else. Who Not How was co-written with Dr. Benjamin Hardy and draws directly from Sullivan's coaching frameworks.
