It’s Monday October 21, 2024
Today, I want to tell you about a leadership development program I am building to help people transition from thinking to actually being who they want to be.
This is not your run-of-the-mill leadership development program, people! It’s going to use cooking as a way to see, feel, and experience change.
STOP right there! I see you non-cooks hesitating. Don’t stop reading just because you don’t like cooking…
In August, I ran a pilot with cooks AND non-cooks. It got a great response from all the participants, y’all! So keep an open mind here! Who doesn’t want to have better knife skills, choose the right spices, plan meals, or try new recipes? …Ok, not everyone, but many of us.
Since August, I have been interviewing people about the connections between cooking and leadership. From the Bay Area to Washington, D.C., from early-career single women to mid-career dads, from private sector to government, they all have something in common: they want to keep growing, learning, and engaging with their lives directly. Their voices have been instrumental in building this program, as have the voices of the hundreds of people I’ve coached and taught.
Who is this program for?
Well, thank you for asking! It is for people who want to live with:
- more empathy while also being assertive.
- stronger social bonds.
- a wider range of emotions and life experiences.
- courage and confidence no matter their stage or position in life.
In my work, I see that people struggle to become the leaders they wish to be even after they receive excellent leadership education. There’s a gap between knowing who they want to be and fully embodying who they want to be.
This program aims to help people internalize new leadership behaviors.
This program I’m building keeps all the parts of traditional leadership development programs that work (strong curriculum, peer-based learning, coaching), and adds parts to:
- make the abstract more concrete: using cooking as an analogy and a hands-on way to engage all our senses,
- experiment and practice in comfortable, families places: moving out of conference rooms and meeting spaces, into a kitchen, dining room, and living room,
- develop trusting, rewarding cohort relationships: cooking as a group, sharing insights together, and having fun! And,
- experience meaningful and practical outcomes: a deeper sense of self, values, and path; deeper capacity for courageous action, love, and empathy; and – very practically speaking, a set of go-to recipes for hosting others for meals.
Leadership development is a process that is, in large part, both invisible and extremely personal. Yet there’s an opportunity to make it more seeable and doable – and that’s what this program will do.
This program I’m building is deeply personal to me. I’ve been imagining it for a long time. When I ran the pilot in August, it meant so much that I cried when thanking the participants. Thankfully, I’ve done the inner work to not feel embarrassed by crying, but rather to see it as a sign that it was meaningful!
Can you help by responding to the two questions in this short survey? I’d love your input as I continue building this program. To do this well, I believe I need to better understand which gaps to focus on first. Thank you for your help!
Art credits: Still life with bread (1936), Zygmunt Waliszewski (Polish, 1897-1936)
A Leadership Tip
Just like cooking, leadership thrives on balancing structure with creativity. Start with a clear recipe—a set of goals, values, and strategies—but stay open to adjusting as you go. Adapt to what’s available, experiment with new ingredients, and invite others to contribute their unique flavors. Whether in the kitchen or at work, the best outcomes often come from a willingness to improvise and learn with others.
Have feedback or an idea?
Do you have a perspective you want to share with me or a topic you want to see featured in this newsletter? Email me your idea at [email protected].