How to turbo-charge your growth | Make your practice Conscious Practice

Henry Mintzberg heads a whole queue of writers pointing to the central importance of Practice:

It is time to face a fact: after almost a century of trying, b.y any reasonable assessment management has become neither a science nor a profession. It remains deeply embedded in the practices of everyday living. We should be celebrating that fact, not depreciating t. And we should be developing managers who are deeply embedded in the life of leading, not professionals removed from it.

And Heifitz and Linksy underline the need for Practice that is Conscious:

Fortunately, you can learn to be both an observer and a participant at the same time. When you are sitting in a meeting, practice by watching what is happening while it is happening—even as you are part of what is happening. Observe the relationships and see how people's attention to one another can vary: supporting, thwarting, or listening. Watch people' body language. When you make a point, resist the instinct to stay perched on the edge of your seat, ready to defend what you said. A technique as simple as pushing your chair a few inches away from the table after you speak may provide the literal as well as metaphorical distance you need to become an observer.

Management education has focused far too much on being academically respectable, which means forgetting that management is a practice, not a science.
Peter Drucker Close

What cannot be achieved by formula may be achieved by attention to the flow of Spirit, and by continued practice. Just as a champion poker player does not emerge from a single session at the table, and certainly not from a quick reading of the rule book, so in the domain of the Dragon: effective leadership simply does not happen without practice. When the field is known, however, and the cues are recognised by a practised eye, amazing things can, and do, happen. Spirit will be focused and empowered to get the job done, whatever that job might be. And creating the time and space for Spirit to show up is what leadership is all about.
Harrison Owen Close

Not very many of us have the patience or the understanding to make the master's journey. To put it simply, you work diligently to develop new skill and to hone old skills, but you practice primarily for the sake of the practice itself. Rather than being frustrated while on the plateau, you learn to appreciate and enjoy it just as much as you do the upward surge. This approach might sound strange and even outrageous in a culture that places an exceptionally high value on short-term success, but it has ancient roots. There's a paradox here: one who renounces immediate goals for the sake of diligent practice generally ends up reaching higher goals than one who shoots for quick results.
George Leonard Close

Everyone wants to be national champion; it's just that no one wants to come to practice.
Bobby Knight Close

Know thyself. It's advice as old as the hills, and it's the core of authenticity. When you know yourself, you are comfortable with your strengths and not crippled by your shortcomings. You know your behavioural blindsides and emotional blockages, and you have a modus operandi for dealing with them - you draw on the people around you.

Self-awareness gives you the capacity to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. It enables you to keep growing.
Larry Bossidy Close

Warren Bennis, who has studied leadership longer than any other American scholar, continues to stress the need for self-knowledge as a prerequisite to effectiveness as a change agent. When reflecting on his own performance as president of the University of Cincinnati, he found that when he was most effective it was "because I knew what I wanted." It was that experience that drew Bennis to define the first competency of leadership as the "management of attention."
Mario Cuomo Close