VALUES BASED COOKING?! WHAT’S THAT?

One of my most cherished gifts for the kitchen has been a set of measuring spoons

which was given to me by my colleague, Karen, many years ago. Each

measurement was correlated to a specific value as follows:

Honesty – 1 teaspoon

Generosity - ½ Tablespoon

Faith - ¼ teaspoon

Strength- ½ teaspoon

There is also a message attached”

“The measure of an amazing woman is the blessings that she brings to

others”

I really look forward to Sundays to go into the kitchen to cook, to create, to bless but

most important, to thank God for this blessing that I get every week. Every week,

when I use these spoons, I reflect of these values, as well as others. I think about the portions of the ingredients in relation to each other and in relation to the values.

Some days, I make dishes that require more honesty than generosity or more Faith

than Strength. In my conversations with God, I may even ask if it is a sign. These

values are fundamental to my existence and they are also germane to an area that I

am so passionate about: “Authentic Leadership.” There are four main tenets of

Authentic Leadership (1) high self-awareness (2) balanced decision making (3)high

moral and ethical and moral standards and (4) what you see is what you get./ “To

thine own self be true”.

For those of you who know me, know that I have been studying Authentic

Leadership for more than a decade as it was the center of my doctoral dissertation,

“Authentic Leadership and Gender in Caribbean Business”. I have had the honour

and privilege of interviewing more than 100 elite leaders in the Caribbean, mainly

from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados. In addition, I have been working

on a podcast with some of these leaders and their proteges/ mentees because my

research had unearthed the fact the powerful impact of high quality mentoring as an

effective intervention strategy for authentic leadership development and ascendance.

In these times, they encourage people to do something that does not yet exist. I

have not yet seen what I call “values based cooking” in action combined with

authentic leadership development. I am hoping that in the next few weeks, you will

have available some of the content from the podcast and some of the takeaways

from Authentic Leadership. I will also be encouraging to get a mentee if you don’t

already have one. After all, the world is changing by the second and if we need to

have the confidence that we will be leaving the world in good hand, we have to pass

on our knowledge.

Life is good!- JJM