Photo by James Trenda on Unsplash

So there was this time when Julia Child cooked breakfast for me—and I turned it down.

I’d become friends with Graham Kerr, who rose to fame as The Galloping Gourmet, one of TV’s original celebrity chefs.

By the mid-’90s, Graham and his wife Treena had moved to Seattle and were producing a new cooking show in the same studio where I produced my comedy show, Almost Live! Because of health issues, Graham had left behind the butter and cream of his Galloping days and turned to healthy, minimalist cooking.

Then in 1995, he appeared with his friend Julia Child in a PBS special. To promote it, they hosted a VIP-only breakfast in the local PBS studio.

In my case, “VIP” stood for “Friend Of Graham.” (Yeah, I know. Let’s not overthink it.)

When I walked in, the studio smelled incredible. Two cooking stations—one for Graham, one for Julia. Tables with name cards all around.

Graham was busy cooking twigs, berries, small pebbles…you know—healthy, minimalist food.

But Julia Child! Oh my goodness! French toast, fluffy scrambled eggs, and BACON! Oh lord, the bacon.

This was going to be the Breakfast of a Lifetime!

And then I found my name card. I was to be seated right next to…Graham Kerr. My friend.

So when Julia Child herself held out a steaming plate of French toast, eggs, and bacon, I politely declined.

And filled my plate at Graham’s station instead. Twigs. Berries. Small pebbles.

Moments later, Graham sat down beside me—with a plate loaded with French toast, eggs, and bacon.

I stared. “Graham, what the hell are you doing?”

He laughed. “Are you kidding? How can you resist Julia’s bacon?”

I immediately got up, walked back to Julia, and filled up on French toast, eggs, and bacon.

It was the Breakfast of a Lifetime!

Look, I didn’t initially turn down Julia’s breakfast because I didn’t want it.
I turned it down because I thought I was supposed to.

And that’s the trap I see a lot of leaders fall into—
confusing playing by the rules with doing the right thing.

• Innovation rarely comes from rule-followers.

• It comes from people who know when the rules are really rules…
  and when they’re just suggestions.

The real innovators are the ones who can smile, push back their chair, and say,
“Actually, I’ll have what she’s cooking.”