Dan Sullivan

Who Not How

1-Page Summary

In Who Not How, entrepreneur Dan Sullivan explains that the best
way to solve a problem is to find someone who already knows how
to solve it—no matter what doing this costs. When you try to solve
your own problems, he explains, you’re limited to what you can do
alone. Additionally, you’re forced to spend your own time and
energy, which can be inefficient and costly. (Shortform note: A third
effect the authors don’t mention is that when you do everything
yourself, you become a bottleneck that slows everything down and
stunts the growth of your business.)

When, instead, you find the right person, you get top-quality results
at comparatively incredible speeds. Sullivan explains that because
the right person already knows how to solve your problem, they can
get to work immediately. You leverage their expert resources and
specialist skills, and the result is always better than anything you
could do alone.

(Shortform note: Experts aren’t just valuable because they’re quick—

they’re also valuable because they have the know-how that comes
from experience. As such, an expert will notice and address
potential issues before they become problems and spot solutions
you couldn’t imagine—saving you time and money without you
even knowing it.)

Dan Sullivan isn’t a writer—he’s one of the world’s foremost experts

on entrepreneurship in action and the founder of Strategic Coach
and the Genius Network. He didn’t write Who Not How himself:
Instead, he hired bestselling author and organizational psychologist
Dr. Benjamin Hardy to do so. By having Hardy write the book,
Sullivan—one of the world’s foremost experts on entrepreneurship
in action—achieved a more impactful result more efficiently than he
could have alone. In effect, he successfully implemented the
principle he promotes in the book.

In this guide, you’ll learn how Sullivan—through Hardy—says you can

find the right person for any job, how doing so improves your time,
money, relationships, and purpose, and how to adjust your
management style to maximize the power of personnel.

Along the way, we’ll compare Sullivan’s advice on personnel

management with recommendations from other entrepreneurs and
authors, such as Paul Marciano of Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work and
Andrew Grove of High Output Management.

How to Find the Right Person

Before we delve into the benefits of doing so, let’s explore the
authors’ method for finding the right person for any given task. Use
this method when you write the job description for any prospective
hire, no matter what role you’re trying to fill.

First, Sullivan and Hardy say, make sure your vision and purpose are
clear. Doing so is critical to helping the right person find you, the
authors explain—someone out there has the skill set you need and
they’re looking for an opportunity to use it to achieve something
great. Offer a goal the right person will be proud to have
accomplished; this way, you establish a relationship that benefits
both parties (no expert will be drawn to a task that doesn't offer
them value). To ensure your vision is clear and that you can
communicate it well, write it down.

(Shortform note: There’s another reason that you need to know

exactly what you want when it comes to hiring experts: If you don’t
provide a clear vision and focus, you’ll lose control of your business.
An expert is confident in his knowledge and skills, so he’ll have his
own ideas regarding how best to use them. If you’re not clear about
what you want, he’ll do what he thinks is best, and the outcome will
blindside you.)

Then, the authors say, determine what kind of person you need, and
find that person. For example, if your goal is to build a library in New
Orleans, you probably need a licensed architect with experience
designing hurricane-proof buildings. Chances are, you don’t know
how to find someone like that, so your next question should be,
“Who can help me find the person I need?” Communicate your
vision to that person, and let them find you the expert you need.

However, the authors note that if you make your goal concrete
enough, you may not have to find someone to seek out experts for
you. According to Sullivan and Hardy, when the right person—
someone who can efficiently provide excellent results—
understands your vision, he or she will be drawn to it: They’ll seek
you out.

(Shortform note: Talent acquisition firms highlight two behaviors

critical to finding the “right person” for a job that Sullivan and Hardy
don’t mention here. First, use your existing personnel as a resource—
assuming you treat them well, they’ll happily recommend you to
any capable connections. (If employee satisfaction is low, perhaps
hold off on this until you can be sure your people will have good
things to say about the company.) Second, accept that finding the
right person will take time: The more specialized the task, the more
time you’ll have to commit. If you try to rush hiring, you’re more
likely to take on someone underqualified or unsuitable for the role.)

Focus on Results, Not Cost

Hiring personnel, or the “right people” for each task, will cost money.
However, the authors caution you against thinking of personnel as a
cost—a spend that returns nothing. Rather, they argue that
personnel are an investment—a spend that creates value.

Indeed, Sullivan and Hardy argue that the concept of “cost” holds
you back in almost every arena because you hold on to money
when you’d be better off spending it. They explain that every time
you “save” money, you chip away at the value of your eventual result:
You use cheaper materials or less skilled labor. In the end, you’ve
“saved money,” but your product is less valuable, which devalues
your business and the time you spent and diminishes your earnings
and outcomes.

(Shortform note: A cost focus causes even more harm than the
authors suggest: Managers who focus on decreasing expenses and
increasing revenue tend to create rigid systems that leverage threats
of punishment and failure to control personnel. This often leads to
progressively worse outcomes. Such systems further disincentivize
investment because instead of doing their best, each employee
does only enough to avoid punishment.)

On the other hand, Sullivan and Hardy say, when you prioritize
results over cost, your best move is always to invest in personnel.
An investment-minded entrepreneur asks, “Who can I hire to
achieve the best result?” Hiring an expert guarantees a stellar result,
so don’t worry about how to solve your problems or realize your
vision. Just find the right people, and invest.

(Shortform note: It’s becoming increasingly popular to focus on

people over profits, but research suggests that, as Sullivan and
Hardy argue, it’s crucial to focus on results and people. However,
studies also show that it’s tough for any one person to do both:
Those who score high on people skills tend to score low on the kind
of analytical thinking that prioritizes results, and vice-versa. You’ll
want to hire a balanced team to ensure equal advocacy for both
priorities.)

Personnel Speed Up Your Results

Now that we’ve learned how to find good personnel, let’s explore
why you should do so. Sullivan and Hardy describe four ways in
which investment in personnel creates stellar results in your
business and outside of it.

The first advantage to investing in personnel is that doing so

increases the amount of time you have and how effectively that
time is spent. According to Hardy and Sullivan, the most effective
way to spend time is in whatever way achieves the best results as
quickly as possible—and most entrepreneurs, they explain, don’t do
that. Because they prioritize costs, many entrepreneurs address
problems by spending their time instead of their money, wasting
both in pursuit of a subpar result. Instead, the authors argue, you
should reclaim your time—improving your own effectiveness and
your outcomes—by hiring personnel.

(Shortform note: Time management is crucial for entrepreneurs

because they’re responsible for an entire company’s results—as
such, there’s always a task waiting for them, and there’s always a
better way to spend their time. Hiring personnel frees up time
better spent on tasks that make more money.)

The authors describe three ways in which you’re likely wasting your
time, and explain how personnel can help you with each:

1. Struggling Alone Is a Waste of Time

An expert accomplishes your goal faster and better than you can
because they already have the necessary skill set. They know what
to do, so they don’t procrastinate; instead, they make the best move
right away, achieving the best result as quickly as possible.

(Shortform note: Even though, as Sullivan and Hardy state, handing

off tasks to experts is optimal for efficiency, many leaders resist
doing so. There are two primary reasons why entrepreneurs can be
reluctant to delegate: Either their single-player mindset means
they’re used to doing everything themselves, or they feel so
responsible for their company’s outcomes that they’re not
comfortable relinquishing control. Remember that as an
entrepreneur, your job is to do what nobody else can—to lead, build,
and promote your business—not to do rank-and-file work. Leave
that to your employees.)
2. Engaging Halfheartedly Is a Waste of Time

Being the right person for a task is about more than just having the
knowledge and resources to do it: You do your best work when
you’re engaged and excited. When you’re not, you don’t just waste
your time—you also waste the time of anyone who relies on you to
be their expert. That’s right: You, too, are “personnel” to someone,
whether that’s your shareholders or your spouse, and when you
waste your time, you diminish their outcomes. Leave every task you
don’t love to a passionate expert, and spend your time doing your
best at what you love most.

(Shortform note: Entrepreneurs often highlight the importance of

passion for their work because it’s a powerful motivating factor—it’s
where you draw your vision and purpose from. Passion is
particularly important because starting a business is often difficult
and emotionally taxing; without passion, it’s easy to believe you
should give up. The more you engage with aspects of your business
that you’re not passionate about, the less motivated you’ll be—and
the more wasted your time will feel.)

3. Unnecessarily Expending Energy Is a Waste of Time

Sullivan and Hardy explain that making decisions and completing

tasks costs energy, and when you’re low on energy you make poor
decisions and achieve subpar results. When you hire a cook or an
accountant, you reclaim the energy to make great decisions and
produce excellent results in other areas. Maximize your own
effectiveness by minimizing the number of decisions and tasks you
handle personally—so you can focus all your energy where it’s most
valuable.
(Shortform note: Bezos, Buffett, and Obama all agree that the fewer
decisions you make each day, the better those decisions are. Each
time you make a decision, your brain expends energy and focus.
Furthermore, some researchers believe that making too many
decisions in a row—particularly without breaks—leads to
progressively less thoughtful decisions. To maximize the quality of
your decisions, Bezos says, only make three high-impact decisions a
day—ideally, before lunch.)

Personnel Create More Money, Faster

The second advantage to investing in personnel, the authors say, is
that doing so optimizes your rate of income and expansion.
According to the authors, investing in high-quality personnel
kickstarts an ever-expanding cycle of growth for your business
ventures.

Because you’ve invested in experts, the authors explain, you’re now

efficiently producing stellar results, effectively elevating your
business and validating your decision to hire experts. Your
personnel will continue to optimize and improve the process
they’re engaged in, generating better results faster and further
improving your income. They won’t need your help to do it, so you’ll
reclaim your time.

(Shortform note: Once you kickstart this cycle of growth, you’ll

inevitably need to expand your team to keep up. Team growth can
become difficult to handle; you’ll inevitably hit a stumbling block
once your team grows to between 25 and 40 people. At this point, it
becomes impossible for one leader to manage every employee or
for each employee to see the whole picture. You’ll need to set up
management structures and autonomous teams and change the
way you communicate.)

As for what to do with that time, Sullivan and Hardy explain that you
personally generate the most revenue when you commit your time
to generating revenue. In other words, hire personnel to free you
from every possible task—from cleaning your house to buying your
shoes—and instead prioritize tasks that make you money.

(Shortform note: You may take this as a recommendation to spend

your reclaimed time working, but that’s not the case at all—when
you work as much as you can, as most entrepreneurs do, you
actually decrease your productivity. Instead, use your reclaimed
time to rest more and maximize your ability to be creative and
decisive: Aim to work a maximum of six hours a day, primarily in the
mornings, and take frequent, small vacations. Doing so gives you
time to clarify your vision and reignite your purpose—which, as an
entrepreneur, is the most important part of your job.)

Don’t Save Money; Spend It to Solve Problems

As your resource pool increases, the authors suggest you continue

to ask, “Who can solve this problem for me?” and don’t allow
yourself to return to a cost-focused mindset. If you find yourself
worrying about cost and feel tempted to stop spending so much
money on personnel, remember that cost-effectiveness usually
only causes more problems. Indeed, the authors explain that
money is valuable primarily because you can spend it to solve
problems. According to them, the optimal solution to any problem
will always be the same: Find the right person to solve the issue and
pay them to do so. Don’t do it yourself and don’t cheap out.

For example: If your sink clogs, you may be capable of fixing it

—but you’re also capable of breaking it further. Investing in an
expert plumber saves you time and prevents further damage.

(Shortform note: As Sullivan and Hardy point out, having money is

useless; its value is determined by how you spend it. Research
shows that one of the most valuable ways you can spend it is in
improving your quality of life. When you can pay someone else to
spend an hour hunched under your bathroom sink or staring at your
emails, you get to spend that enjoying the blissful flow-state of
doing what you do best or enjoy most, instead.)

Personnel Improve Your Relationships

The third advantage to investing in personnel is that doing so
improves your relationships. We’ve discussed so far that investing in
personnel saves you time, energy, and money—and you can spend
those, the authors say, to develop deeper, more fulfilling
relationships.

Investing in personnel isn’t just about hiring experts for your

business—it’s also about investing your time and energy in mutually
beneficial personal relationships. As you free up your time and
accumulate resources, the authors explain, it’s natural to deepen
your focus on personnel—on people—and the connections you
make with them. In doing so, Sullivan and Hardy explain, you further
your personal growth more quickly than you could alone.
(Shortform note: Psychologically speaking, connecting with others
strengthens our emotional resilience and comfort with intellectual
risk-taking—both of which benefit an entrepreneur—but Sullivan’s
idea of “growth” is much more tangible. What he means is that if
someone’s around to help you, you’ll learn skills much more quickly
than you would alone.)

Sullivan and Hardy outline two ways to optimize your connections

with others: Ensure you’re not approaching them transactionally,
and engage wholeheartedly.

Give Generously, Not Transactionally

To really connect with others, the authors say, you must discard
transactionality. In other words, stop thinking about what’s in it for
you—let go of the cost mentality. When you always try to get more
out of people than you give, Sullivan and Hardy explain, your
relationships fall apart—you become a drain on the resources, time,
and energy of others, and they don’t benefit from being around you.
Instead, whether you’re attempting to connect personally or
professionally, be generous and focus your attention on what you
can give. For instance, ask yourself what you can do to improve the
other person’s ability to achieve their goals. If you do, people will
flock to you.

(Shortform note: In Drive, Daniel H. Pink elaborates that

transactionality ruins relationships by boiling them down to a series
of rewards and punishments. In short, not only will nobody you treat
transactionally go above and beyond for you, they’ll intentionally
give you their bare minimum. Why? Because you show them there’s
no point in interacting with you unless you reward them for it.)
It’s especially important to be generous in your personal
relationships, the authors note. If you have children, for example,
you’re key “personnel” for them—your resources, knowledge, and
attention are critical determinants of their success. When you invest
generously in them, you dramatically improve their ability to
achieve stellar outcomes in their lives. When you don’t, you do
irreparable harm to their chances of success, as well as to your
relationship.

(Shortform note: Children provide a remarkable return on

investment—financially and emotionally. Just giving your child time
and attention on a daily basis improves the quality of the
relationships they build and seek, as well as their emotional well-
being. An emotionally healthy child with a strong relational support
network is primed for a happier, more financially stable future: Their
better health outcomes save them money on healthcare and their
improved learning outcomes lead to better employment
opportunities.)

Engage Wholeheartedly or Don’t Engage at All

When you spend time with others—especially in your personal life

—Sullivan and Hardy suggest, commit wholeheartedly to doing so.
Your spouse won’t appreciate the time you spend together if you’re
absent-mindedly thinking about work, and you won’t benefit from it
either. That time will be wasted. To give yourself the best chance to
deepen your connection, ensure you can be fully present and
committed.

(Shortform note: Wholeheartedness is similar to what Mihaly

Csikszentmihalyi calls “flow”: a state in which you’re so immersed in
an experience that you let go of everything outside of it. According
to him, flow is an optimal state that allows a degree of engagement
and connection that’s otherwise impossible—we’re entirely present,
so we don’t miss anything about the moment. What Sullivan’s
suggesting is that you give your loved ones this degree of focus.)

If someone gives you their all, commit to them. Sullivan and Hardy
explain that as you continue investing in people—professionally and
personally—you start to see who stands out, elevating your business
and life. Give those people your best, the authors say;
wholeheartedly support and uplift them. You’ll get their best in
return, and build meaningful, mutually impactful relationships.

(Shortform note: In addition, Fintech program director Sar

Haribhakti suggests that the skills you learn from helping others are
just as valuable as the connections you make. When you take every
opportunity you can to make those around you more successful, he
says, you end up in situations you’d otherwise never explore. The
insights you gain while outside your comfort zone may lead you to
new entrepreneurial opportunities or help you break into
unexplored fields.)

However, even if you have the capacity to take them on, Sullivan
and Hardy warn, only say “yes” to people or projects you’re
wholeheartedly excited to work with and are the right person for.
Doing so ensures that your time, energy, resources, and attention
remain focused in the direction that best suits your purpose and
goals.

(Shortform note: Many entrepreneurs advocate for following your

heart and doing what excites you because that engagement
motivates you to drive forward. Billionaire Richard Branson says that
the goal of entrepreneurship is to turn what excites you into capital
so that you can do more of it—if what you’re doing isn’t fun, he says,
you should probably be doing something else.)

Personnel Optimize Your Purpose

The fourth advantage of investing in personnel is that doing so
improves your purpose: how valuable your investments of time and
resources are and how much you can accomplish.

Collaboration Generates Meaning and Value

We do our best when we feel that our decisions and behaviors—

and our investment of resources and time—have meaning and
value, or purpose. Purpose, the authors explain, is what pushes us to
give our best—regardless of the job or task. We want the outcome of
our investments to have an impact, somehow, on something.

(Shortform note: Many organizations try to cultivate their

employees’ passion instead of their purpose, but for the rank-and-
file, passion is a poor motivator. In So Good They Can’t Ignore You,
Cal Newport explains that most people, throughout their lives, learn
that fulfillment comes from feeling passionate about your work. As
a result, passion-seeking employees are unable to cope with boring
or frustrating aspects of their jobs—they think the work is pointless
or not right for them because it doesn’t inspire passion 100% of the
time. However, if you cultivate your employees’ sense of purpose
and make the point of their work clear, they’ll feel motivated to push
through the difficult realities of their work, even if they don’t feel
passionate about it.)

According to Hardy and Sullivan, purpose comes from

collaboration. It’s difficult to find a truly great purpose alone—after
all, there’s only so much you can do with the limited time and
resources you have. That’s where the power of personnel comes in:
When we work together, the quality and impact of our combined
result improves—and, thereby, the value of that result. Because of
this, collaborating with others deepens our sense of meaning and
fulfillment—it’s empowering to be a member of a group that’s large
enough to accomplish something truly valuable.

(Shortform note: According to one Harvard Business School

professor, a sense of purpose through collaboration has myriad
benefits: Feeling you’re part of something greater than yourself
leads to high levels of engagement and creativity and a willingness
to partner with others regardless of boundaries. In other words, joint
purpose encourages your team to willingly step out of their comfort
zone in pursuit of meaningful goals.)

The authors note that as you reach for ever-higher goals together,
your vision of what’s possible grows. Your shared sense of purpose
expands, as does your trust in each other. Once you realize how
much you can accomplish with the right support, the authors
suggest, you’ll gain confidence in your ability to make a powerful
impact. You’ll feel increasingly invested in the people who helped
bring your vision to life, and they’ll feel more invested in you—as a
result, you become more committed to each other, and to the goals
you share.

(Shortform note: It’s all well and good to hear that purpose expands
your vision, or that investing in your team leads them to invest in
you, but what’s the bottom line? CEO Mark Weinberger of EY says
that between 1996 and 2011, companies who centered their
purpose around social impact rather than financial outcomes
outperformed the S&P 500 by 10 times.)

Purpose Is Amplified by Trust

As you grow into your role as a results-focused investor in people,

the authors urge you to trust your team to do their jobs without
your constant intervention. Trust amplifies your team’s feeling of
purpose—it lets them know you believe they’re the right people for
the job and that you trust them to find the best path to a stellar
result. It’s a form of investment that forces them to invest, as well.
Either they are the right person for the job, in which case they’ll see
value and meaning in the autonomy you give them, or they’ll step
aside so the right person can take over.

(Shortform note: Trust is critical to a successful autonomous

structure, elaborates Paul Marciano of Carrots and Sticks Don’t
Work. Trusted employees feel more comfortable taking ownership
and pitching the risky ideas that lead to great innovations. To
engender trust, he says, provide autonomy, decision-making
authority, and resources without questioning your team’s loyalty.)

According to Sullivan and Hardy, leading in this fashion—providing

opportunities for your team to face and overcome challenges
autonomously—helps your team build the confidence and
commitment they need to fulfill your vision and grow as people. The
longer they work this way, the more capable they become—and the
more you can trust them to handle. It amplifies your relationship
with your team from transactional to transformational: You’re not
just working for yourselves anymore; instead, everyone benefits
meaningfully, so everyone’s willing to invest.

(Shortform note: Allowing your team autonomy doesn’t only help

you meet your business needs—it also helps your team members
meet their psychological needs. In his book High Output
Management, former Intel CEO Andrew Grove explains that the
most effective and lasting motivation is one that fulfills the human
desire to achieve competence or mastery and contribute to a stellar
result. By challenging your team and trusting them to produce
excellent results, you give them opportunities to improve and
overcome, effectively supporting them in their pursuit, as Grove
would put it, of self-actualization.)

Leadership Supports Without Micromanaging

A great leader, Sullivan and Hardy say, builds an autonomous team

by staying focused on the results he wants to achieve and
minimizing his interference. This is what it means, they say, to
“invest” in your team. According to them, you do this in four steps:

1) Communicate your vision and clearly define the desired

outcome. (Shortform note: The importance of clarity is heavily
corroborated in entrepreneurial literature. For example, in Carrots
and Sticks Don’t Work, Paul Marciano explains that sharing the big
picture with every employee is a powerful source of motivation. It
lets your personnel feel like partners, and gives them context for the
decisions you make.)

2) Invest in a team of people who are capable of accomplishing

your goal. (Shortform note: On this point, Marciano provides
additional advice: Regularly ask your team what else they need.
Capable personnel still have needs, and they’ll know what would
improve their outcomes—whether that’s resources, information, or
training. It’s your responsibility to provide those things, or at least to
make them available.)

3) Let your team figure out how to get there and do the work
themselves. (Shortform note: The authors aren’t suggesting you
build a team with no oversight or responsibility—they’re just saying
you don’t need to provide it personally. On that note, Verne Harnish
advocates assigning someone to be accountable for each process
and function. In doing so, you promote responsibility and a clear
hierarchy—everyone knows who to ask about each part of the
system. Crucially, nobody should ever touch a system for which
they’re not somehow accountable.)

4) Give consistent feedback and praise depending on the results,

and don’t let your team give up. (Shortform note: Here’s some more
detail on useful feedback from Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work: First,
feedback should be 80% positive and only 20% negative—this
ensures personnel will be praised for what they do well and
heightens the impact of criticism. Second, when you give criticism,
be prepared to reinforce a change in behavior with immediate
positive feedback. Third, when you see an opportunity to give
feedback—praiseful or critical—do so immediately. If you wait, the
impact is lost. Finally, assume any failure to meet your expectations
is a result of your failure to communicate.)

Be a Paragon to Your People

The authors suggest that as you grow closer to your team and
accomplish increasingly ambitious goals with their help, the most
powerful purpose you can have is to be their paragon. Find out
what their needs and goals are, and do everything you can to help
them, care for them, and uplift them. In return, they’ll give you their
best work, and, as we’ve seen, transform and expand your life.
They’ll be proud to support a leader who supports them, and they’ll
make it their purpose to enable you to continue that work.

(Shortform note: It may seem odd, from a cost-focused perspective,

to hear that an entrepreneur’s ultimate purpose is to care for and
uplift other people, but this argument is well-supported in
entrepreneurial literature. For example, Marciano (Carrots and Sticks
Don’t Work) calls this “consideration” and says it’s one of the seven
keys to financial success. As he puts it, if the company doesn’t care
about the employee, why should the employee care about the
company?)

Exercise: Determine What You Need and Who

Can Help

Use this exercise when you need to figure out exactly what you
need help with, and who can help you do it. Note that this exercise
works just as well for personal problems as it does for professional
ones.

Describe the project you’re attempting to complete or the problem

you want to solve. (For example, maybe you want to eat healthier)
Explain what your goal is. Why do you want to solve this problem or
complete this task? What do you stand to gain if you succeed, and
what will you lose if you fail? (For example, you want to lower your
cholesterol and improve your cardiovascular health so you’ll be
around to see your grandchildren grow up.)

Explain the value of achieving your vision. How does it impact the
world, your community, or the people involved in it? (For example,
improving your health will allow you to rejoin the tennis club, to play
with your grandchildren, and to participate more actively in your
business.)

Describe the outcome you desire. What does the successful

completion of this project look like? (For example, you want at least
two of your meals each day to be planned and prepared by
someone else, and you want to be able to run again.)

Look over your answers and consider: Who can help you solve this
problem? What kind of person are you looking for? (For example,
you’re looking for a personal chef with a background in nutritional
science, and a trainer used to working with older clients.)

Exercise: Identify What You Can Offer

Use this exercise to identify an opportunity to generate goodwill by

providing value without asking for anything in return.

Name a person you’d like to establish a relationship with and

explain how that connection would benefit you or your business.
Write down, in as much detail as you can, what that person’s goals
are. What are they trying to accomplish or achieve? How are they
attempting to do it?

Look over your last answer and list at least three ways in which you
could leverage your own knowledge, skills, or resources to help
them accomplish their goal.

Choose one of the above and describe in detail how you’ll put it into
action.