Free lunch! The oldest retention strategy is also 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’ve been thinking about that Florence moment a lot lately, because the data is finally catching up to what that studio director understood instinctively. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking_0b545c.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EWonderRigor™️ Newsletter\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want more insights, tools, and invitations from Dr. Natalie Nixon about applying creativity for meaningful business results and the future of work? Subscribe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__figure-2D8-2Dthinking-2Dllc.kit.com_sign-2Dup\u0026amp;d=DwMFaQ\u0026amp;c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM\u0026amp;r=xHenyQfyc6YcuCNMBsOvfYGQILM1d1ruredVZikn4HE\u0026amp;m=F383gnrChFhYKPhcpNHI1hY3o58IHIn_LkB5QJDrs3G5Wfft-DcucUO4UEmGO7GZ\u0026amp;s=JlJm7GyKCJvPW0jyrsfTFtinteKDitN13vfPZiuJnP8\u0026amp;e=\u0022 target=\u0022