Free Lunch: The Oldest Retention Strategy Remains One of the Most Effective

Years ago, when I was a professor, I brought a cohort of executive strategic design MBA students to Florence, Italy, to study the Renaissance as a living laboratory for business innovation. We visited palazzos, workshops and guild halls. But the moment that really lit up everyone was in a small art studio, before a single paintbrush was lifted. The studio director greeted us daily at the door with the smell and taste of freshly baked cake or cookies. That was it. No slides, no agenda, no icebreaker. Just warm sweets.

What happened next still fascinates me. A room full of accomplished, analytically rigorous MBA students became completely present and joyful: curious, open and alive to what the afternoon might hold. The studio director had not addressed a rational need. She had addressed an emotional one. Food was the proxy and belonging was the point.

I have been thinking about that Florence moment a lot lately because the data is finally catching up to what that studio director understood instinctively.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.