What can Cake Pops show us about Leadership?

I am a worrier (not to be confused with warrior) and this was a worry week. Have you ever had one of those? Maybe you were overwhelmed by the enormity of challenges at work or maybe you received a medical diagnosis you were not expecting OR maybe you were trying to be supermom.  As I faced into the week, I was presented with the task of executing on a very difficult challenge, I found myself taking a few deep breaths and instead of looking at how the problem seemed from 50,000 feet, I tried to focus on taking the problem one step, one issue, one concern at a time. This was my job and I needed to lead well. I then leaned into my incredibly competent colleagues and navigated the path. What I found when I did that was clarity and inspiration. We tried a new approach, with new options and a great deal of risk. When we braced for the worst and made it through the first step alright, I felt momentum and inspiration from the courage of those who were working through it with me. At the same time, I made a conscious choice to NOT second guess my leaders who are making tough decisions in difficult times, to NOT second guess my colleagues who are doing their best to help us implement those tough decisions and to NOT second guess my team members who are on the ground making critical decisions in the moment.   This is not and will not be easy. It will be messy but that doesn’t mean that we cannot do good work. 

So, what does this have to do with Cake Pops? I decided that it might be fun (and even therapeutic) during this hectic week to make Cake Pops and bring them to my son’s school for his 11th birthday.  It wasn’t exactly fun. In fact, it was a mess. One of the cakes was too moist, I lost a few cake balls during the white chocolate dip AND it took much longer than I had anticipated. By the time I got to Cake Pop #96, I was exhausted. I had nothing left and took my black frosting gel pen and made two little eyes and a straight-line mouth for that last one. When I arrived at school, that little Cake Pop #96 had stuck to the plastic and smeared. It looked awful! As I contemplated throwing it out or saying that my 11 year old decorated it, a little girl walked up to me and said, “Wow, cake pops! Can I have the panda?” She thought that poor little Cake Pop #96 was a Panda?!?!? I laughed and said, “of course you can.” The thought that came to me in that moment … Just because it is messy, doesn’t mean it cannot be good. ??