I first learned of the world’s goodness at a kitchen table.
In the South of my childhood, love was tangible. It was served to you on steaming plates and in cold glasses of tea. In this culture of hospitality, grandmothers reigned supreme. Refusing Grandma was a capital offense. Declining her signature dish was the most egregious manifestation of this sin. Lord help the man that turned down chicken and dumplins.
My mom found a way to extend the reach of her kitchen when I moved away from home. Every few weeks she would send me a care package. Each one contained a note and some food stuffs hardy enough to survive a trip through the postal system. I survived several months on breakfast cereal and sports drinks.
My favorite gift from her came in one of those packages. I recognized it immediately when I opened the box. It was a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. I had seen a faded version of that red and white checkered cover many times in my mother’s house. Its presence on the counter faithfully foreshadowed moments of culinary delight. As I thumbed through the cookbook my mother had sent me, I quickly realized its potential. Each recipe contained step-by-step instructions. By following the instructions carefully, I could expand my diet far beyond the realm of pre-packaged, shelf-stable products.
As I tried my hand at some of the simpler dishes, I gained confidence in my ability to cook. I began to search the index for recipes to some of my childhood favorites. The ones I found never seemed to turn out quite right. My cookbook was inferior to my mom’s. Her version was stuffed with index cards and scraps of paper – recipes she had collected along the way. Time-tested improvements were scrawled in the margins.
The cookbook I’d been given was only meant to be a start. If I followed the recipes I would slowly learn the principles of cooking. I would develop skills and knowledge that could be built upon. Experience would give birth to an ability to adapt.
I am learning business is much the same. Over the past nineteen years, I’ve collected “recipes” to use in various situations. To find out how you can bring these recipes to your organization, visit stepmorgan.com/workstory.
Photo credit: Steven Depolo
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