Earlier this year, I wrote a short piece about pizza’s power to predict major domestic and geopolitical events, noting that unusually large late night pizza order delivered to the Pentagon, White House, or even Congress had been correlated with major geopolitical developments emerging from Washington DC. After all, during an emerging or ongoing crisis, professionals involved in the planning or execution of a response or military action are probably stuck in a secure location and pizza becomes the fuel to power the team through the tense night. Nice theory, but does it work?
The short answer is yes. Turns out that pizza deliveries boomed during the nights before the First Gulf War began, the Clinton impeachment, the May 2011 raid on Osama Bin Laden, and even Israel’s attack on Gaza. Sure seems that unexpected surges in pizza deliveries to the secure offices of important decision-makers are an early signal of something big about to happen.
As someone who has advised leaders to navigate global uncertainty by connecting developments across seemingly disparate or disconnected domains, the relationship between pizza and world-shaking events naturally caught my attention. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that pizza’s usefulness as an indicator probably isn’t constrained to just political developments.
After all, who doesn’t like pizza? It’s a quick meal for kids (or adults) when time’s tight, the perfect food while hosting friends, and one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to feed workers during a meeting. Given that the average American eats 180 slices a year, pizza consumption might be a unique seismograph capable of reflecting ...
