The Trouble with ‘Recipes for Success’

I love to cook. That wasn’t always the case. When I didn’t know what I was doing, I hated cooking and the end result. Bland, dry, inedible outcomes were the recipe’s fault. When my husband’s Italian grandmother began passing down the recipes to our family’s favorite dishes, and my results were still duds, blaming the recipe was no longer an option. That’s when I started paying attention when she cooked.

Why did Gina Santini get different results with the same set of instructions? She used fresh herbs and spices versus my collection of dried options from the back of a cupboard. Garlic was crushed by hand and never from a jar. Her extracts were a baker’s quality. The meat she selected from a butcher who knew her by name was marbled with delicious fat to tenderize as it cooked. Her cookware was sturdy, even and seasoned from years of use. Above all things, Gina was patient. Whether something needed time to rest, time to heat, time to properly chop, time to grow — she invested the time and the end results were mouth watering.

Watching Gina do her magic in the kitchen revealed the significance of choosing quality ingredients and tools, giving attention to details and allotting time for things to come together the right way when following a recipe.

How does this relate to the career space I occupy professionally? It’s not uncommon to hear “I tried that and it didn’t work” when sharing job search and career advancement strategy. Okay, but it worked for someone — often times many someones. Why? Perhaps those getting better results are executing the identified ‘recipes for success’ with the skill, care and attention Gina brought to her efforts. It’s worth finding out before tossing a good recipe. You could be throwing out the formula for something as valuable as Gina’s meatballs.