In my first leadership position, I mistakenly thought that being named the leader meant that I was the leader. Back then I defined leading as a noun – as the position I was appointed to – not a verb – as what I was doing. Though I had been hired as the senior pastor, I quickly discovered the real leader of the church was a down-to-earth farmer named Claude, who had been earning his leadership influence through many positive actions over many years. He later explained it to me, saying “John, all the letters before or after a name are like the tail on a pig. It has nothing to do with the quality of the bacon.” In other words, leadership is action, not position. Leaders are always taking people somewhere. They aren't static. If there is no journey, there is no leadership.