The Pizza Boy Strategy
Originally published on LinkedIn on September 29, 2025.
A few weeks ago, I joined Silvana Roberta Helal, Mihai Dragomirescu, and Georgiana Trascu as a speaker at the Building Your Strategic Voice as a Middle Manager event, hosted by LSEG and powered by Bridging Gaps. The event brought together managers, team leads, and future leaders, each eager to learn how to make a positive impact while navigating pressure from both leadership and their teams.
One of the strategies I presented, which resonated with many in the audience, was what I call “The Pizza Boy Strategy.” I can’t take credit for the phrase. Someone close to me, whom I greatly respect and admire, first used it with me many years ago. Since then, I’ve applied it throughout my career, shaping how I approach management and growth.
Why the Pizza Boy?
Think about the pizza boy or girl. They show up. They’re visible. They know their route. They bring value at the exact time it’s needed. They don’t argue about scope or say, “That’s not my job.” They deliver.
And then they do it again. And again, and again. That’s the essence of the strategy.
How It Applies to Middle Management
Middle management is often the most challenging role in a company. You don’t always set strategy, yet you’re accountable for results. You don’t write all the code, close all the deals, or run all the projects yourself, yet you carry the weight when things don’t go as planned.
This is where the Pizza Boy Strategy comes in:
- Support your colleagues. Step outside your silo. If another team is short-handed, help. If a peer is stuck, offer a hand.
- Be visible. Don’t hide behind dashboards or emails. Walk around. Join the calls. Be present in the conversations where decisions are made.
- Understand the business. Understand how your company generates revenue, what matters most to customers, and where the key pressure points lie. Don’t limit yourself to your job description.
- Go the extra mile. Deliver even when it’s not formally assigned to you. If you see a gap, fill it. If you see a risk, flag it early and propose a solution.
- Deliver results. At the end of the day, effort isn’t enough; impact is what counts. Set clear goals, follow through on commitments, and ensure that your work translates into outcomes that matter for customers and the business.
When you approach your role this way, you stop being just “the manager of that team.” You become the person who delivers when it matters.
Why This Matters
In my career, I’ve worked across Fortune 500 companies, startups, and large enterprises. I’ve led delivery organizations with budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars. I’ve been responsible for hundreds of engineers, project managers, and architects across different countries.
What I’ve learned is this: the leaders who grow, the managers who stand out, and the contributors who get promoted are the ones who live by the Pizza Boy Strategy; even if they’ve never called it that.
They are visible. They are reliable. They build trust because others know they’ll deliver value, even outside their formal boundaries.
In a previous role, I was responsible for stabilizing operations across multiple countries. The turning point wasn’t a new process or a better tool; it was when my managers started supporting each other across teams. They stopped saying “That’s not my problem” and started showing up for each other. They became pizza boys. That shift altered the culture and ultimately impacted the project’s outcome.
A Word of Caution
Being the pizza boy doesn’t mean being a servant. It doesn’t mean saying yes to every request or running yourself into the ground. It’s about judgment.
The pizza boy doesn’t deliver every meal under the sun; they deliver pizza, something people expect and value.
For managers, that means adding value where it matters most to the business. Sometimes it’s solving a customer issue. Sometimes it’s supporting a peer under pressure. Sometimes it’s stepping up during a crisis. Sometimes it’s optimizing a process.
The key is to choose the moments that count.
Building Your Voice
The topic of the event was “Building your voice.” Many middle managers ask: How do I stand out? How do I influence decisions when I’m not the one at the top?
The answer is simple, though not always easy: deliver like the pizza boy.
Every time you do, you add a brick to your reputation. Over time, those bricks form a foundation that others can see and rely on. That’s how your voice becomes stronger. That’s how influence grows.
The Pizza Boy Strategy is not about glory. It’s not about being the loudest in the room or chasing credit. It’s about consistency, reliability, and being the person others can count on.
When you practice it, people notice. They remember who showed up, who delivered, and who made things work.
And that, more than titles or org charts, is how you build a lasting voice as a manager.