Cooking Her Way to the Top

Last week, while I was on vacation, I went to see the movie Julie and Julia, and couldn't help thinking about Julia's career in terms of her leadership. Like many women of her time, she got a late start but it didn't stop her from coming out at the top of her field even though most leading chefs were men. Julia's leadership characteristic that stood out the most for me was her perseverance: it took her eight years to write her book, but what a breakthrough book it was, laying the foundation for her successful career. I was also struck by another aspect of her career development -- she had the complete support of her husband, so she had someone believing in her and encouraging her. And it also helped that he was literally bringing home the bacon, giving her the time to develop enough to teach others how to fry it!