Practice Makes a Man Imperfect!

Imagine Virat Kohli saying: "I am the greatest cricketer in the world. I don't need practice. I don't need feedback. Who knows better than me? I'll just play international matches and do nothing in between."

What do you think would happen?

And why?

Because practice doesn't just make a man perfect.

Imperfect practice makes a man imperfect.

In practice, under the supervision of a coach, Kohli works on the right shots, identifies his weaknesses and corrects his mistakes. But imagine if he just kept practising the same wrong shots, without feedback, without coaching and without anyone telling him what he was doing wrong.

He wouldn't become better.

He would become better at being bad.

We can all see this clearly when we look at a cricketer. But when it comes to ourselves, somehow we close our eyes.

When did you last practise leadership?

As a leader, when was the last time you did an anonymous 360-degree feedback assessment to understand your blind spots?

Rated yourself on your leadership capabilities and tracked your progress?

Worked with a coach to improve your leadership?

Attended a leadership workshop?

Analysed a difficult meeting with your team and asked yourself, "What could I have done better?"

If you are like most leaders, the answers probably aren't very encouraging.

Leaders spend thousands of hours improving the business. How many hours do they spend deliberately improving themselves?

And that is strange.

Leadership is one of the most valuable skills in business. And like every other valuable skill, it can be learnt, practised and improved.

The best leaders understand this.

That's why some of the world's most successful leaders like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Larry Page have worked with executive coaches.

They understand something that many managers don't: the higher you rise, the more expensive your blind spots become.

The problem is always the team

Ask an average manager or founder if they have a coach, and you may hear: "Why do I need a coach? I'm already quite good. My problem is my team. If they were better, my life would be much easier."

Of course.

The problem is always the team. Never the person leading the team.

That's the difference between an ordinary leader and an extraordinary one.

An ordinary leader expects the team to get better. An extraordinary leader starts with himself. The team follows.

You don't become a better leader by leading more. You become a better leader by practising leadership better.

Your biggest return on investment as a leader may not come from another strategy consultant, another productivity tool or another training programme.

It may come from investing in the one person who influences all of them.

You.