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The 7% Club
The 7% Club
Episode 35: Who, not How
The 7 Percent Club Podcast – Episode 35: Who, Not How
Episode Overview
In this episode, I explore the powerful concept behind the book Who, Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. I break down how shifting from asking "How can I do this?" to "Who can help me?" can accelerate business growth, improve efficiency, and free up time to focus on strategic goals.
Key Takeaways
🔹 The Core Concept: Instead of figuring out how to do everything yourself, focus on finding the right people (your “Whos”) to help you achieve your goals.
🔹 Why It Matters: Asking who leads to results, while asking how often creates problems and slows you down.
🔹 Applying the Concept:
- When setting business goals, don’t immediately ask how—ask who can help make them happen.
- Examples:
Expanding internationally? Find experts who have done it before.
Need to grow your business? Surround yourself with high-level mentors and collaborators.
🔹 The Power of an A-Team: Having the right people in your business allows you to focus on what you do best while they handle execution.
🔹 Let the Who do the How: A key phrase from the book that emphasises delegation and collaboration for greater success.
Favourite Quotes from the Episode
✨ "Asking who creates results. Asking how creates problems."
✨ "Richard Branson doesn’t start his visionary projects by asking how—he gathers the right Whos."
✨ "If you have an A-team in your business, they are the Whos who will help you grow while freeing up your time."
Episode Resources
📖 Who, Not How by Dan Sullivan & Dr. Benjamin Hardy
🌐 Learn more about me: jennystilwell.com.au
Connect
💡 Need help scaling your business from 7 to 8 figures? Get in touch jenny@jennystilwell.com.au
Remember: Better strategy, better business, better life! See you next time!
Hi there, this is Jenny Stilwell and welcome to the 7% Club podcast for the 7% of business owners who break through 2 million in sales and for those on track to join this club. If you want to upscale from seven to eight figures, you'll need to make some shifts in how you grow, structure and lead your company because you cannot get to 10 million in the same way that you reached your first one or two million in revenue. This podcast is to help you upscale. Let's go. In today's episode of the 7% Club podcast, I want to talk to you about an incredibly useful book called Who Not How. Now, it's been written by Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach, and he is an incredible and unique thought leader. And I think he's one of the very best. And I've actually been following him for more years than I can care to remember. His co-author is Dr. Benjamin Hardy. Now, Benjamin is Dan's who because he actually wrote the book. Dan didn't. It's Dan's IP, but Benjamin was the who enabling the book to come into the world. So first of all, what is it? Well, the subtitle of the book is The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork. Now, the teamwork is the who bit, and they were my words, not part of the subtitle. So the premise of the book is that when we want to achieve something, we need to ask who, not how. And it's a very simple premise, but with a big impact. So why is it so useful? Now, I find it an incredibly useful perspective because our default is usually how. How can we do this? How can I fix this? How can I make this happen? Whether it's in business or in bigger life. And as the book says, asking who creates results. Asking how creates problems. And that is so true. It's a complete shift in perspective from how we usually approach getting things done and achieving big goals. So when you start to think about who could help was your default question instead of how can I make this happen, it honestly changes the outcomes you will get. So how can it be applied? Well, I'm going to briefly cover just a couple of things of how to apply it in your business. And ever since I read this book, my default question has become who for anything I want to achieve. It's been fantastic. So let's just have a really quick talk about strategy. So if you start with a specific goal or a big outcome you want to achieve and then leap to how it's a big leap so if you start with you know we want to achieve this in the next 12 months or we want to be in this position in the market within 12 months time and that's the goal you're putting out there and then you go straight to how it's a huge leap there's a huge chasm between what you've declared as your goal and asking the question how so let's say you want to expand your business internationally and as an example, you want to expand from Australia into the UK within 12 months. And I know people who are currently focused on this as their strategy. So there are several strategies you could implement for doing that. And I'm wondering if any of you listening are already shifting your thinking to what are those strategies? How could I do that questions? So instead, ask yourself who. For example, who do I know in my industry who's achieved this and I could go and talk to them. Who do I know in the UK that could introduce me to some potential clients or partners? Who provides advice on this to companies like mine and could help us make this happen? Who do I know that's had experience expanding to other markets? So think about it. Richard Branson surely doesn't start his huge visionary projects with a question of how. It's impossible. He just can't. He would, I'm imagine gather his who people around and start the conversation because the who people in your world can provide introductions introductions to other who's advice ideas tools guidance and they can be the who's that actually get things done elite sports people as another example they need who's to reach or to stay at the top of their game they need game coaches they need physios they need mindset coaches managers So the question of who will help you to achieve bigger and better results without you having to do all the work, and that in itself is a huge shift. What if you could consistently achieve bigger and better results by asking this question? And the only way to achieve bigger and better results is to stop asking yourself, how can I achieve this? And start asking, who can help me to achieve this? Again, as I said before, it's a simple question, but with a potentially huge impact. This lies at the heart of one of the core concepts that I'm always talking about, and that's to create your A-team. So if you have an A-team in your business, they are the who that will enable you to achieve more, do more, have more time for work on strategic growth. And they will do that without your constant involvement. If you have an A-team, your who's, you You can just let them get on with it while you do what you're best at and what adds the most to your business. And as the book says, let the who do the how. So it gives you more time. I love that. Let the who do the how. Now, I just want to give you a summary and I'm just going to read from the book two other sections and I'll just read directly because if you haven't decided to buy it, hopefully this will just entice you to go ahead and buy a copy. So in part two, it teaches who not how can make you more money because when you begin enlisting who's to support your growing goals, you'll no longer be distracted and focused on non-productive activities. Making money is a confidence and leadership game and a skill you can develop and master. In part three, it walks you through who not how will help you cultivate more and better quality relationships. So as you increase your standards for how you spend your time and as your goals increase, you'll be required to surround yourself with higher level who's. You'll need better mentors to help you get to the next level. You'll need better, more confident and more capable employees to take on your increasingly inspiring objectives. You'll need world-class collaborators to help take your thinking and work to places that not only you, but your competitors could never imagine. So I hope this very brief summary has given you enough reason to buy a copy. And I honestly cannot recommend this book more highly. I think you've probably got that message by now. So until next time, remember to ask who, not how, and see the results that you'll start getting. Bye for now. That's all for today's episode of the 7% Club. Thank you so much for listening. If you would like advice and support on how to grow your business from seven to eight figures in a manageable and profitable way, then get in touch via my website, jennystillwell.com.au and that's one L in the middle and two on the end and I'd love to help you. And as always, wherever you are in the world, remember, better strategy, better business, better life.
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