Robynn Storey, a career coach with 877,000 LinkedIn followers, made a poignant statement about cake. Consider this excerpt of her post on the “incompetence” of modern hiring:
Back in the day, we hired people after one or two interviews and they stayed in those jobs for 5, 10, 20 years.
Know why?
We were not looking for perfect. We found smart, experienced, competent people who could do the job.
We trained them, supported them, coached them, moved them around, and had birthday cakes in the breakroom when it was their birthday.
Now, if you are not perfect, not a rock star, not ready to rock and roll after a hot minute, you are leaving or getting fired.
Companies are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on creating the latest and greatest personality, skills, assessment tests, to make sure YOU are perfect, but they don’t reciprocate with the training and onboarding you need to really be successful.
That’s why employment is a revolving door of unhappy people who jump from one place to another looking to feel valued, looking to feel appreciated, looking to be a part of something greater than themselves.
And cake. 🎂 I don’t see or hear too much about birthday cake anymore.
I think that is the problem.
Dozens of the 343 comments affirmed the value of cake.
For its part, the New Yorker recently posted a cartoon about office cake.
Cake is a language that strengthens social connection. It communicates belonging and inclusion.
The symbolic power of cake is the premise of my Cupcake Nation book. Since a book-length analysis doesn’t fit in a blog post, we can find insights in an essay by celebrated pastry chef and author Cheryl Day. Writing for the National Gallery of Art, she reflects on Cakes by the late artist Wayne Thiebaud. “Cake is more than the sweetness you experience in every bite,” Day writes. “Cake can be nostalgic, evoking memories and crossing all cultural barriers.” The artwork, writes Day, “conjures memories of all the landmark occasions when I have enjoyed a simple slice on a plate.”
This same sentiment reveals why office cake is more than cake. It’s a bonding agent that validates the individual within the collective.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 