Free lunch! The oldest retention strategy is also one of the most effective

If you don’t believe it, look at the data.

[Photo: Alexandr Kolesnikov/Getty Images]

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........

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