Avocado Toast Culture
Inspired by on Lenny's Podcast
A startup tried so hard to make employees happy with avocado toast and socials that they forgot to actually define what success looked like - which is the parenting equivalent of endless treats and no boundaries.
Alisa Cohn tells a cautionary tale.
'It all started with the avocado toast. They have avocado toast at 10 AM. And that turned into other longer periods of just hanging out together. And that turned into evening socials. But they continued to be not fully clear on what they were actually supposed to do. And there began to be a cliquey, gossipy culture.'
She watched a founder create culture through perks instead of through expectations.
'Culture is not just avocado toast and having socials. Culture is things like, we go the extra mile. Or, we measure twice and cut once. Those are the things about how we actually get work done.'
In parenting, this looks like: lots of fun activities, treats, screen time, permissive rules - but no clear expectations about behavior, no consistent routines, no structure for success.
Kids don't need avocado toast culture. They need to know what's expected.
(The avocado toast is fine. Just don't let it replace clarity.)
PM Theme: Culture is behavior, not perks
Parenting Theme: Structure over treats
“It all started with the avocado toast. They have avocado toast at 10 AM, like tea time kind of a thing. And that turned into other longer periods of just hanging out together. And that turned into evening socials. But they continued to be not fully clear on what they were actually supposed to do.”Alisa Cohn · 00:42:58
“Culture is not just avocado toast and working together and having socials, culture is things like, we go the extra mile or we measure twice and cut once. Those are kinds of things that are really about the way we get work done around here.”Alisa Cohn · 00:44:07
