Great Question

Monday, 14th of August 2023  

Introducing you to the power of asking questions one Great Question at a time

„How could something so menial drive someone so greatly?“

What the question means to me:

I recently stumbled upon a Chef’s Table (Netflix docuseries) episode, that features the cake shop ‘Milk Bar’ around the corner from where I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The episode is about Christina Tosi who turned her obsession with home baking into a multimillion-dollar business. Christina studied electrical engineering and has a degree in applied mathematics. Her parents hopped for more, when she announced her plans about making cookies and baking cakes for a living. Her mum's thoughts were pretty straight forward: „How could something so menial drive someone so greatly?“

I thought about this a lot. It illustrates quite well how our society systematically devalues craftsmen and service providers who enrich our daily lives. A lot of people are having a hard time understanding how this kind of work can fulfill or even move a person. It is not only intrusive but also too shortsighted. Today, everyone is in search of a purpose. By preemptively excluding certain aspirations, simply because they are socially deemed undesirable, we make it extra challenging to find a purpose in the first place.

As parents and friends, when our beloved ones announcing they wanna bake cookies for a living, instead of labelling it as menial, we could say: “It is wonderful that you found your purpose” and ask:

·      What do you love most about it?

·      What is one thing that gets you most excited about?

·      How can we support you?

Here comes the interesting part about Christina’s journey. Now that she is an award-winning pastry chef and has built an empire with cookies and cakes, suddenly her passion and dedication for baking has become something her family looks up to. Nothing “menial” about a seven-figure business, I guess 😊

Ask more Great Questions! Until next time,

Johanna