Who Not How
The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork
by Dan Sullivan with Dr. Benjamin Hardy
About this book
Who Not How (2020) introduces a new way of thinking about entrepreneurship, goal setting, and collaboration. Developed by business coach Dan Sullivan, the Who Not How mindset shows the importance of delegating tasks to others. By inviting them to help you achieve your goals, you’ll gain more free time, increase your income, and develop valuable, lasting professional relationships.
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Chapter 1 of 7"Whos" help you focus on your unique abilities and achieve your goals.
The year is 1984. A promising young basketball star has just been drafted by the Chicago Bulls. His name is Michael Jordan, and it soon becomes clear that he’s one of the best players in the NBA – maybe even the best.
And yet, despite the emerging star’s best efforts, Jordan’s first three seasons with the Bulls are frustrated by early eliminations in the playoffs. For the Bulls, Jordan’s individual athletic prowess just doesn’t translate to championship victories – or even making it past the first round of the playoffs.
Rather than figuring out how to win a championship alone, Jordan needs help – someone who can support his amazing abilities in the context of a team sport. Jordan doesn’t need a How; he needs a Who.
The key message here is: Whos help you focus on your unique abilities and achieve your goals.
When you enlist a Who to assist you in a project or goal, you find someone who can take over tasks that don’t belong to your core talents. As it turned out, Jordan needed several Whos before the Bulls embarked on their famous run of six championship victories. The first arrived in 1987 – a rookie by the name of Scottie Pippen, who helped Jordan improve his own game while also becoming a better team player. But even then, for the next three seasons, the Bulls still couldn’t make it into the finals; they still relied too much on Jordan’s solo abilities. Jordan and Pippen needed another Who with the vision to grow the team into a tight-knit powerhouse.
When Phil Jackson became the Bulls’ head coach in 1989, he soon realized that, while several players were very talented, he needed to develop a strategy using the whole team. He called this the triangle offense. Over the next few years, the Bulls perfected this strategy, and they went on to win six championships between 1991 and 1998. None of this would have happened through Jordan’s virtuosity alone.
The Chicago Bull’s road to success isn’t just a nice story. It also begs the question at the crux of the Who Not How philosophy. If one of the greatest basketball players of all time needed several Whos to achieve his goals, what about you? What are you trying to accomplish, and who can help you do it?
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