Article Highlights:

  • How we communicate defines how we are perceived.

  • Verbs and adjectives—while both entirely critical—have different implications.

  • Leaders who embrace a growth mindset would be wise to utilize verbs over adjectives.

  • While adjectives are best suited for understanding nuance, verbs are most useful for inspiring action and forward progress.

Swimming in the pool

I was swimming in the pool in Marin, and it occurred to me: verbs are much more powerful than adjectives. An adjective is typically a description at a point in time. A snapshot. A best guess. Adjectives usually describe a static state (unless of course the state is in motion) and capture more of the “being” versus the “doing”—solid vs fluid.

Conversely, verbs are kinetic energy in action. Dynamism, evolution, growth, change!

How it affected me

After reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill a few years ago (at the recommendation of my good friend, Chris Escher), I was inspired to create a personal ambition statement which I read aloud to myself twice per day: morning and night. I've been partaking in this ritual for 2+ years now and have come to appreciate it's impact.

However, last week I applied a critical eye to it. What I noticed: lots of adjectives, few verbs. So I rewrote it to be more action-oriented:

Before: "I am smart. I am successful. I am doing big things. I will earn $5m dollars by the time I'm 35 by providing quality consulting services to young, growth companies and an innovative picture frame design for sale." 

After: "I am learning. I am growing. I am getting stronger. I am doing big things. I will earn $5m dollars by the time I'm 35 by providing quality consulting services to young, growth companies and an innovative picture frame design for sale." 

See the difference? Verbs. Emphasis on the doing. The work. This change was inspired by Carol Dweck’s book Mindset which, if you haven't read it yet, is a game changer. The book paints a remarkably poignant, evidence-based picture of two types of mindsets: growth vs. fixed. This book came highly recommended from over 70% of the CEOs we advise.

What's next?

We've started analyzing the publicly available executive communications of "good" vs. "bad" executives. Since our team obviously doesn't have access to internal leadership presentations, we are focusing on publicly available video, podcast and written talks.

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10674832/count-verbs-nouns-and-other-parts-of-speech-with-pythons-nltk

Using Python we are basically combing through lots of executive-speak (literally) to understand the relationship between verbs, adjectives (and nouns) to see if there's a correlation. Additional information here (frequency per 1,000 words):

LEXICAL WORDS

CONVERSATION

  • Adverbs 50

  • Adjectives 25

  • Verbs 125

  • Nouns 150

ACADEMIC PROSE

  • Adverbs 30

  • Adjectives 100

  • Verbs 100

  • Nouns 300

FUNCTION WORDS

CONVERSATION

  • Pronouns 165

  • Primary auxiliary verbs 85

  • Prepositions 55

  • Determiners 45

  • Coordinators 30

  • Modals 20

  • Subordinators 15

  • Adverbial particles 10

ACADEMIC PROSE

  • Pronouns 40

  • Primary auxiliary verbs 65

  • Prepositions 150

  • Determiners 100

  • Coordinators 40

  • Modals 15

  • Subordinators 10

  • Adverbial particles 5

These figures can give only a crude picture and show only the figures for one kind of written English. In general, though, nouns and verbs are the most common words, and conversation seems to use a higher proportion of verbs, adverbs and pronouns, while written English uses a higher proportion of nouns and adjectives.