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Be a Verb, Not a Noun

Meet Gregg Popovich. The winningest coach in NBA history, five-time NBA champion, and what most would consider one of the best coaches in the history of basketball, maybe all of sport. Even with all the accolades, the most remarkable aspect of Popovich’s legacy is what his former players say about him. They don’t lead with his win-loss record or his championship runs. To them, “coach” was a title that was insufficient to describe what he meant to them.
For example, in 2018 DeMar DeRozan had just received word that his father had passed away. Devastated and sitting alone in his San Antonio hotel room DeRozan heard a knock minutes after informing the Spurs front office of his loss and plans to head home for the arrangements. It was Pop. He sat in the room and cried with DeRozan for two hours. In simple Pop fashion he declared, “I’m not leaving until you leave.”
When another former Spurs player, Dejuan Murray, spoke about Popovich, he got emotional and said, "I love that dude to death, man. He's like a father to me. When I would lose people, I would go to his room, and he would give me that hug. I would cry on his shoulder. I'd vent to him. He was just there for me. And that has nothing to do with basketball. We're talking about real life."
Popovich was “Coach” by title. It was a noun that described his position. But his actions, the behaviors, the way he showed up day after day is what defined who he actually was. He wasn't great because he was a coach. He was a great coach because of how he coached, how he cared, how he showed up for his players when they needed him most. The title gave him access. The actions earned him influence. The difference between the two is everything.
Why Should We Care?
We've got this thing all backwards. We chase titles, positions, and labels as if those things define us. We act as if becoming president or head coach or COO is the goal. But titles are simply the nouns. They're descriptors of where you sit in an organizational chart or at the meeting table. They might grant you authority, but they don't make you a leader. They might give you a team, but they don't make you someone worth following. The mistake we make is thinking that once we achieve the title, that it defines us. But, it's the verbs, the daily actions and behaviors, that determine whether that title means anything at all.
Far too many people get promoted into positions of authority and then spend the rest of their careers protecting the title rather than living out the behaviors that made them deserve it in the first place. They become more concerned with their title than with actually leading. They focus on maintaining their position rather than serving the people in their charge. But the truth is people don't follow titles. They follow actions. Your title might get you in the room, but your behaviors determine whether anyone listens to you once you're there. 

REAL TALK - Action Steps
Shifting from title-focused to action-focused leadership requires intentional practices that keep you grounded in what you do rather than what you're called. Here are a few ideas to maintain that focus:

• “Hi, I’m …”
  
  • Stop introducing yourself by your title and start defining yourself by your actions. Write down 5-7 specific verbs that describe how you want to show up as a leader. Make your list specific and behavioral. Then, at the end of each week, assess whether or not you actually did those things or if you just held the title. 
    

• Title-Free Tuesdays
  
  • Make every Tuesday the day you consciously avoid using your title in any context - emails, meetings, conversations. When you introduce yourself or describe your work, talk only about what you do, not what you're called. You'll find that your actions carry more weight than your title ever did.
    

• Weekly Inventory
  
  • Every Sunday, write down the specific actions you took as a leader in the past week. Not meetings you attended or emails you sent, but actual leadership behaviors. This inventory reveals the gap between your title and your behaviors. Adjust accordingly. The goal is to increase the percentage of your time spent on leadership actions.
    

Stop worrying about whether you're called a leader. Start focusing on whether you're actually leading. Be a verb, not a noun. Let your actions speak louder than any title ever could.

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