Who Not How - Business and Ultra Marathons

Capable.  Practical.  Self Reliant.  Problem Solver.  If you are a business owner, or an ultra-marathoner, you probably exhibit these traits.  Could they be your greatest weakness?

I recommend the book “Who Not How”, by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy. The authors explain why asking the question “How?” when faced with a challenge or a big idea is self-limiting, while asking the question “Who?” is self-expanding.

As a business owner and ultra-marathoner, I’ve had to rely on grit, determination, and the discipline to get-it-done-no-matter-how-much-the-effort, more times than I can remember.

In both arenas, I thought that asking myself “How do I do this?” was serving me well.  I’ve discovered capabilities that I didn’t know I had, and operated close to my limits for extended periods.  Those periods might be the hours of running a race, or the years of running a business.

But here’s the point:  while it’s fun to probe your limits, it’s a sign of self-awareness to realize just how much those limits can restrict your potential.

Whether running a race, or building a business, what you can do on your own by figuring out “how”, is a tiny fraction of what you can do with the help of others.

Want to run trails in beautiful areas on trails all around the country?  You can spend hours cross referencing maps and apps to figure out where the best trails are (good luck with that – it’s a nightmare), or you can find “Whos” in the form of race directors who have already done that and run the best trails out there by signing up for their races.

Want to improve every aspect of your running performance?  You can spend hours researching training methods, heart rate zones, nutrition, and more, or you can find a “Who” in the form of a coach who already knows more about all of those topics than you ever will. 

Hire the right “Whos” to be on your team, and dramatic success and growth will be the result. 

For business owners used to looking at the bottom line, the rubbish in our heads has us stuck thinking that “How?” saves money, and “Who?” costs money.  We persist with this belief, even when all evidence shows that in the long term, the opposite is true.

Our challenge is to realize that “How?” is a cost question, and “Who?” is an investment question. This is the paradigm mindset shift that will unlock your potential and blow away the limits that are holding you back.