Slice to Pie

The Pizza Theory of Career Management

It’s been a busy few weeks as I prepare for our Global Learning Programs (GLP) workshops in Mexico City.

I’m creating no less than seven presentations and workshops and one that captured my attention over the last few days involves pizza.

The workshop is called, “Slice to Pie.” It’s a metaphor for the transition from leading a domain-specific discipline to full enterprise management. In human terms, it’s when you go from being a leader of, say, accounts to becoming President or CEO. (In my case I went from Chief Creative Officer to CEO.)

Essentially, you have your slice. And next thing you know, you’ve got the whole pie.

The workshop I’m leading will go into details about this transition and how to approach it.

Here are few things that might help you as you’re pondering trying to make a similar move happen.

Step one, before you get your head around the enterprise, get your mind around understanding finance. If you’re not coming from a finance background learn the basics and learn the terms.

Sure, every finance meeting is essentially the same plot: What’s the money coming in? (Revenue). What’s the money we’re using to run this thing? (Cost). What’s leftover? (Profit).

Oh, you can go one step further and calculate the profit as a percentage. (Margin). That’ll show you how efficiently things are going. And trust me, the conversation will go deep and wide into ways to prune costs. But keeping this foundation will always ground you in the root of the conversation.

Best of all, once you know that every day your CFO and her team will be thinking about this (and every month you’ll be reporting it) you can turn your attention to the rest of the pie.

In my workshop, I break down the enterprise into my 3P framework. (Those of you who follow this blog will know this ol’ chestnut). The 3Ps: People, Process, Product.

When you approach the pie through this 3P lens you can really manage and lead.

For example:

People: Listening and motivating.

Process: Focus on how you create and make your ideas and products.

Product: The thing you are producing. How good is it? How are you pricing it? How are you selling it?

Do the first Ps right and it all leads to a fourth P: Profit.

Here’s another thing: Use the 3Ps as an assessment tool. You see, if any one of these elements is misaligned, you’ll have problems. Don’t have the right People? The Process will be irrelevant and the Product will suffer. Have the right People but no Process? You might get lucky on Product but it won’t be sustainable. Product is mediocre? Well, is it the People or the Process? No doubt, it’s all effecting your Profit.

Is this utterly reductive? You bet it is.

Coming into a CEO role as a trained copywriter, I found so many issues and conversations were complicated and loaded with confusing jargon.

I simplified everything.

That’s what I preach. That’s what I teach.

Simplify.

It all comes back to pizza. It’s a few simple ingredients all working together. Maybe that’s why you’re rarely satisfied with just one slice.