3 Ways that Making Pizza is A Lot like Middle Leadership

Who doesn’t like pizza? The cheese, the toppings, the crust. Eating pizza is a celebration of life. It is all of life’s experiences—earth, wind, fire, water, oil, family, friends, faith, love, joy, happiness—put into a 12-inch circle of pure joy! The only thing better than eating pizza is making a pizza and sharing it with friends. 

For the last 18 years, I have been making pizza almost every Saturday evening. As I was making pizza this past Saturday, I realized that making pizza and leading in the middle are similar experiences. You might say to yourself, “there’s no way he can connect pizza making with middle leadership.” Well, I’m going to try. You know the saying, “all work and no pizza…!” So here I go, the three ways that pizza-making and middle leadership are a lot alike.

1. When pizza making, the dough is the pizza!

Making the foundation of a pizza is more than just buying a package of frozen dough, thawing it, and rolling it out. Though some might call that pizza crust, prepackaged pizza crust is only a shadow of the real thing. The dough must be prepared with care, stretched (not rolled), placed in the pizza pan, topped, baked, rested and then cut. The dough is the foundation of the pizza; without it, you have a lot of great flavors, but don’t have a pizza.

Middle leadership is the foundation of the organization. In the heart of most every organization —those who are holding the whole thing together—are the middle leaders. Middle leaders make decisions with far-reaching impact. Middle leaders work with leaders and followers alike. Middle leaders are the link between the hopes, dreams, and mission of the organization and the day to day carrying out of those hopes, dreams, and mission. Without middle leaders, there would be nothing to hold up the middle, and the organization would cease to exist. Middle leaders hold the whole thing together.

2. When pizza making, it’s the little things that matter.

One quick example: adding garlic into the pizza sauce gives one flavor profile; adding garlic onto the top of the pizza creates an entirely different flavor profile. A pizza maker knows it’s the small things that make the pizza great. 

A middle leader knows it’s the small things that matter. Being kind to people, giving praise where praise is due, celebrating the victories together and even working through the failures together are all little things that matter. It’s the little things that turn an excellent middle leader into a great middle leader.

3. When pizza making, the joy is often found in the moments of the making.

A lot is going on when you’re making pizza. There’s flour flying, yeast rising and pans clanging. But in all of that activity, there is a joy that comes from smelling the aroma of yeast proofing in warm honey-sweetened water or pausing look into the oven and seeing the bubbling tomato sauce around the edge of the pizza, as the fresh mozzarella browns before your eyes. It is in the moments of the making that the greatest joy can be found.

A middle leader knows the joy is in the doing. In the day-to-day activities of a middle leader, there is a lot of sound, movement, and action. There are decisions to be made, people to coach, strategies to initiate, and meetings to attend. These can all be distractions, or they can be points of joy. When all we want to do is get to the finished product, these sounds, movements, and activities can seem like distractions. But they become points of joy when we accept them as a part of the great opportunity called middle leadership. Yes, there is joy in a job well done, but in middle leadership, happiness can be found in the moments of the making.

So, there it is! Making pizza is a lot like middle leadership. Since you already know what it’s like to be a middle leader, why don’t you give pizza-making a try. Click here for my pizza dough recipe. Enjoy!