What are your thoughts on practice?

Important? Sure!

Pleasurable? Maybe for one or two folks.

Whether we enjoy it or not, everyone believes practice is valuable for improvement. Right?

In my opinion, love him or hate him, Allen Iverson is one of the greatest and most underrated basketball players of all time. That guy could ball! When he played, his undersize and lack of concern for bodily harm made him appear to be a human pinball.

You may not be old enough to have witnessed Iverson’s legendary rant about practice, but you can look it up. (Before laughing and judging, as most of us did then, read the backstory on what was going on in his life.)

An overlooked and sincere comment made during his tirade was about the importance of practice. Like most elite-level individuals, Iverson understood that to be the best, you must put in countless hours of hard work and dedication.

Do we do that with leadership?

We read books, listen to podcasts, explore excellent websites, follow gurus on social media, or ask our local grocery store manager for tips, but do we practice or just accumulate information?

For most of my life, I have been guilty of simply being a collector of tips, quotes, and life-altering nuggets of truth. I love sharing my thoughts on outstanding sermons, speakers, or random tidbits I pick up along the way. My problem is that I hear it, maybe share it, and then put it on a shelf to collect dust.

Why not practice?

Shouldn’t we practice to improve as leaders as much as we do to reduce our mile time, hit a ball, or increase our best score on a video game?