I love pizza. It really is my love language.

It's become a passion of mine in so many ways, from making the dough to watching people enjoy the end result. A close friend of mine coined a phrase for me, "Not to bring it back to pizza"... Well, here we go.

I was talked into making pizza for everyone in the studio one day, not that it was hard to convince me to do it.

While making the dough, I started to think how much I love cheese by itself. Salami is fantastic on its own. Bread no brainer. All of these items by themselves are great, really good! But something unique happens when you put them all together... We get a fantastic symphony of textures and tastes that bring a tear to my eye (yes, I’ve cried while eating pizza, it was that good).

At that moment, it struck me that leading a team is relatable to making a pizza.

First, you have to source great ingredients or talent. Mediocre ingredients or people might get the job done, but the extra energy put into sourcing will only improve the end result. It's the difference between a Little Ceaser $5 hot and ready versus an $18 Neopolitan pizza.

Next, you must prep the ingredients to build the pizza or your team. Once you have the right ingredients, you need to know how they work together—balancing out the sauce’s acidity to the mozzarella's creaminess. The flour to water ratio. And so many other things. Like your team, you need to understand how they function to let their abilities shine.

Lastly, you produce a pizza with a fantastic combination of flavors, just like the output of your team when you do quality work together.

Success is the outcome of all of the parts working together. One bad ingredient will ruin an entire pizza. Like with your team, do you have a "we all win or lose together" mentality, or is it all about what you can get individually? Ultimately, we can be great on our own, but something special happens when we can work together and build something beautiful.

Lead your teams in a way that success comes from combining the unique qualities of everyone on your team.

Not to bring it back to pizza, but there you have it.