Truth to tell I’m not much for books about cooking as I’m a fairly basic cook. I’m no Bobby Flay but I can throw together an edible meal that’s reasonably tasty. I’m also not much for books about leadership and teaching you how to be more assertive and focused in life. Self-help books really turn me off. So how did I end up not only reading but reviewing a book entitled Gumbo Warrior: Recipe Of A True Leader which is exactly what it sounds like: a cookbook about the skills and tools of leadership, using the writer’s family recipe for gumbo as the template for acquiring and learning those skills and tools?
Same way I usually end up reading and reviewing a book: it was recommended to me by a friend and my friends usually have good taste and I trust that they wouldn’t recommend a book to me unless they thought for sure there was something in the subject matter that would interest me. And there is a good deal in Gumbo Warrior: Recipe Of A True Leader that did interest me.
Mr. Mayfield’s prose is a bit rough at times and he tends to stray from time to time, zig-zagging from his family reminisces to his career as a Marine to make his point. The effect sometimes gives the impression of a stream-of-consciousness style of writing. But it’s more than that. It didn’t take me long to get into the book to realize that Mr. Mayfield feels intensely about the subject he’s writing about and it truly does come across in his writing. His deep love for his family, his country, his service in The Marine Corps and yes, his cooking is strong enough to overcome the roughness of the prose.
Mr. Mayfield takes the highly unusual notion of adopting his family gumbo recipe that he learned from both his grandmothers to apply the various ingredients of gumbo and how they go together to create one delicious dish to the various ingredients that go into the making of a leader. Mr. Mayfield recounts many incidents from his life as a youth growing up in New Orleans and his time in the Marines to illustrate these ingredients and how they made him the leader and the man he eventually developed into.
It works a whole lot better than my rather clumsy synopsis would lead you to believe. As I said earlier, Mr. Mayfield believes and cares deeply about his subject and he communicates that belief very well indeed. I like how he always uses his own personal history to illustrate the points he’s making. As a result, in reading this book I feel I got to know Mr. Mayfield as a person. At times while reading the book I felt as if we were having a conversation. Not an easy thing to pull off in prose, I assure you. I’ve tried.
Mr. Mayfield has a simple, relatable style of writing that works for him and makes reading his book entertaining. Gumbo Warrior: Recipe Of A True Leader has a lot going for it in terms of being a positively inspiring and uplifting read that will give you a lot to think about if you decide to give it a chance. May make you even think about learning how to make gumbo.
GUMBO WARRIOR: RECIPE OF A TRUE LEADER
By Morris Mayfield III
2018
ISBN-13: 987-0-692-07687-3
Johnson’s Publishing Co.