What loving (and eating!) pizza teaches me about Change Management

On a lovely summer Friday afternoon, we enjoyed a pizza early dinner with a couple of friends. Before we even arrived at one of my friends’ place, there was a lively conversation, more like a “negotiation”, on the topic of sharing food. We were trying to agree on the order, so we could place it as soon as possible, and pick it up on our way. There was a tense moment when one of us said: “Let’s just order 4 different ones, and we share.” Do you remember the “Joey doesn’t share food!!!” moment from TV series “Friends”? Well, it turned out I was friends with some Joeys… Maybe because I have been doing change work for so long, my inner Joey comes out to play with a twist: I don’t share food, but I am open to exchange food. This is why I try to be the last one to place the order. If the exchange option is not available because somebody ordered something I do not like, then I revert to “full Joey default setting.”

It was during our pizza exchange dinner that the thought of writing a #tuesdaychangemanagementrandomthought about pizza first came to mind. Many pizzas later, as in a few months later, it popped back up on my writing radar. Last week I ordered one of those oven stands that allows you to bake three pizzas at the same time, a wonderful kitchen toy for future Sunday family dinners. As I put it together for a quick test, the idea of looking at pizza through the lens of change work came back, and I could not shake it off. So here we go, some “slices of thought” I hope you will enjoy. They also come with a confession: I can’t turn water into wine, but I can turn pizza into breakfast. Bon appetit!

In the crust we trust. This is the pizza equivalent of “change happens at the edges.” Have you noticed how at any gathering of people, the awesome conversations and interactions almost always happen around the edges? Somewhere away from the spot where the music is loudest, voices are highest, around the edges where people can actually hear each other. Those smaller groups create a sub-party all of their own, like a more personal, meaningful alternative to the main event. And, more often than not, the food stands are on the sides, anyways, so there’s “edge perk” for you! From a different perspective, any habit change contains a step focused on small, simple actions that slowly, but surely, chip away at the core of the pattern from its “edges”. Even when we think about a human body cell, its edge – the membrane, is where interaction and exchange with the outer environment happens. Everything that is innovative, disruptive, different in any way, shape or form is perceived and deemed as risky, and the “middle of anything” – be it an organization, a political party, a college party, might think there is too much to lose to so something that feels dicey. Thinking about the edges of change, “underdog” came to mind. Change oftentimes starts at the edges, with the underdogs, and moves towards the center. In pizza words, in the crust we trust.

Sometimes, no sense makes most sense. Have you ever wondered how come we enjoy triangle(ish) slices of a round piece of magical deliciousness that comes in a square box? I know pizza does come in different sizes and shapes, and all of them are fabulous and critical to maintaining happy life on Earth. However, I am sure we can all agree that the most common known and enjoyed variety is the round pizza. I stumbled upon a wonderful read on crustkingdom.com on “Why Is Pizza Round? The Box Is Square, And It’s Cut Into Triangles”, and will take a few lines to share some its fascinating knowledge with you. Pizza is round because, before cooking, the dough is shaped into a ball to rise. It is easiest to shape and stretch a ball of dough into an evenly thick base, and later on, a circular pizza is easier to cut into equal pieces, like a pie. Let’s not forget that sometimes dough is stretched by spinning and throwing it, which naturally makes it circular. Also, traditional Neapolitan pizza has clear and set rules, and one of them says it must be round. Moving on to the square box. Square boxes are much easier to make, needing only one piece of cardboard. Round boxes need a few pieces. One piece of cardboard can be unfolded flat and so boxes take up less space when being stored. Square boxes are stacked in freezers and shelves easily, and flat edges stop the box falling. A circular box takes up the same width and length so no space saving improvement. Last, but not least, cheaper to make square boxes as they are common and so don’t need bespoke production. At this point, you might ask “Why not a square pizza for a square box then?” Here’s a possible answer: “It is simply easier to make a pizza round from its dough ball to its stretching technique. So, this has become well known and traditional. There is the argument that square pizza would be harder to get out of a square box, so a round pizza is actually easier to eat.” Getting closer to actually eating a pizza, we come to the point of cutting it into its iconic triangle slices. Pizza is cut into triangle slices because that is the most common way to equally divide a circle. Plus, by slicing it from the crust to the center to make a triangle, every slice gets an equal portion of toppings and crust. In the spirit of full disclosure, it needs to be mentioned that “Some pizza is cut into squares, a good example of this is the Chicago thin crust pizza which is popular in Midwestern United States. The pizza usually has toppings pushed right to the edge and so there is little or no crust. A portion will therefore have toppings on the whole square. This cut can sometimes be referred to as ‘party-style’. This is because it is easier to cut and serve a large pizza in squares than slices – the slices become too long to manage from crust to center.” In summary, pizza is easier to make round rather than any other shape. And pizza boxes are easier and cheaper to make square than circular. It’s cut into triangles as that is the natural way to divide a circle. That is why we get a mismatch of all these different shapes. Take a second to think about how this resonates with change work. Sometimes, things do not have to make sense. They just need to… come together and feel right. And make you feel good. Triangle slices of a circular thing coming in a square box - it looks like a series of perfectly rational, common-sense decisions made in blissful isolation from each other, which make weirdly perfect sense together – when it comes to pizza, at the very least!!! Allow apparently mismatched change items to come together, and you might be surprised at how sometimes no sense makes most sense, based on a magic all of its own.

"Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself." Cannot thank American actor and comedian Bill Murray enough for this gem!!! I do change work, which is quite a lonely work, and brings me disapproving looks on a daily basis. The absolute most disapproving look I ever got in my life was a few years ago, when I ordered pizza in Italy, and I asked for extra mozzarella topping. Apparently, that is a big no-no, as each pizza in Italy is made with the “perfectest” amount of mozzarella from the get-go. I imagine asking for pineapple topping would have earned me getting escorted out of the country by the carabinieri… In retrospect, this small story makes me think about how we react to feedback, especially during change work. I guess it is quite difficult to get to the disruption level of ordering pizza with extra mozzarella within an organizational transformation, but how strongly and steadily we feel about our preferences, choices, and end outcomes is a fascinating element in change work. A friend of mine oftentimes says: “Feedback is like pizza. You choose what toppings you keep and which ones you discard.” Here’s a twist I had the joy of hearing recently, during a team development workshop. We were unpacking a “slice” of a voice of the customer feedback, and one participant remarked that some inputs did not feel as directly addressed to this particular team. And, here it comes: “I agree, this might not be directly about our team and our role. But if I read it, I still learn something important about what my internal clients find valuable and meaningful in our interaction.” There we have it: feedback made relevant through intentional effort to stay curious, open-minded, and unwavering self-awareness and improvement. Had this workshop been in-person, I would have celebrated this with ordering pizza for everyone. My treat! “Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself”, just as every feedback, no matter how directly or indirectly targeted at you, your role or your team, holds a meaningful nugget if you try hard and believe in your power to change, yourself, your work, and those around you.

Right after I press “publish” on this week’s piece, I will place an order for pizza. With extra mozzarella. And if you wonder where I stand in the polarizing, society-cutting discussion around whether I love or hate pizza crust? As intense a debate as the ones around cilantro or liquorice. My answer is I LOVE CRUST. And I also love cilantro and liquorice. Not on pizza, though. By the way, did you know there is a 2021 movie called “Licorice Pizza”, literally meaning “liquorice pizza”? It is an American period comedy-drama film, set in 1973 and following the development of a young couple's relationship. Look for it, order some pizza, and enjoy!

Until next week, keep calm and do good, be nice, order pizza, repeat.