As a kid, my Meme (Grandmother) made this incredible meal that was simply amazing. It had chicken, dumplings, and vegetables in the most amazing cream sauce. It was insane. She handed it down so thoughtfully to the entire family in a book she had bound for all of us to enjoy. And then one day I tried to make it myself.
It turns out that words on a piece of paper, while informative, do not really instruct us on the many years of trial and error, intuition, failure and the experimentation that goes into making a recipe for 40 some odd years. I tried several times and just could not get the dumplings or the sauce correct. My wife had a similar French recipe she inherited from her Grandmother, but the dumplings were dry rather than moist and the texture was not the same. Good, but different.
From time to time, people ask me to tell them the one thing that will improve their leadership and the answer is not that easy. We can read about leadership, take courses, study history and even work for people who are great leaders. But until we actually experience leading, we will never be able to make the dumplings the same as Meme.
One day, my Dad came over and we made Ragout together and it was perfect! Dad got to experience learning how to make this dish with his Mom, my Meme, and therefore had experienced the entire process. He even got to screw up the recipe a few times and learned how to get it just right.
If we want to learn how to lead, we have to actually try to lead. Like making Ragout with my Dad, it helps to be learning from someone who already knows the recipe.