Samantha Julka: Organizational leadership is like layers in a cake

I identify a lot with the mole in “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” a really great book worth checking out. The mole has an odd obsession with cake. He just likes it and unapologetically thinks about it all the time. I feel the same, which is why a six-layer rainbow cake instantly came to mind as a fitting metaphor for a challenge we’ve seen frequently among leaders in many of our recent projects.

Let’s pause for a moment and just visualize this cake. It’s tall and covered in white icing. It might even have a message across the top. However, the real magic begins when it’s cut. What once was a tall, white tower is now a rainbow of cake, starting with a red layer on top and moving through to the violet layer on the bottom. To me, this is how many organizations look from the outside. They project a homogeneous image to the world, but once you get inside, you discover how colorful and complex they are.

When I think about many of our clients, we often talk to leaders within that red layer, such as a president, CEO or other members of the C-suite. We also engage and share research insights with people leaders in the layers below the top. There might be VPs in the orange layer, directors in the yellow layer, and managers in the green layer, all of whom filter down direction to the technical leaders and individual contributors in the blue, indigo and violet layers.

Life within an organization is pretty different from violet to red. We have noticed that the red layer has an acute awareness of the external as those leaders sit on the top and can see what’s coming. They often have overall fiscal responsibility and sustainability of the organization. Imagine, for example, having just offshored two production sites less than a year ago and now having to consider the post-election focus on tariffs. These external factors drive focus and priorities for the red layer. People in this layer have to worry about the whole cake because that’s their job. Sitting at the top, they can see where they’re going and what’s coming, making it hard for the red layer to worry about or even identify with the problems in any individual layer.

Now, let’s talk about the orange layer. These individuals have the difficult position of being the conduit between the red layer and all the other layers. In our research, we noticed a pattern: The more successful organizations have a more empowered orange layer. When the orange layer is in touch enough with the direction of the red layer and is given the power—and criteria—to make significant decisions, it can help all layers below and above. The leader in the orange layer is perhaps the most skilled and savvy person within an organization and worth acutely focusing on.

We’ve identified three key qualities successful orange-layer leaders must have. First, they need to embody the direction and vision of the red layer and know how to translate it into actionable tasks for the layers below them.

Second, they need to know how to communicate in the unique language of each layer. The message coming from the red layer must be filtered differently when talking to the yellow, green or blue layers so they can engage. For example, if the red layer is working on a tariff strategy, a line supervisor at a manufacturing plant might not know how their work directly impacts the outcome. However, if given a more focused challenge, let’s say to strategize how to maximize production on their line for a specific period, they can likely help. In communicating, the orange layer needs to make sure people know what needs to be done and the unique impact on their layer.

Consistency is the third quality we’ve seen in strong orange-layer leaders. They need to show up every day without any gaps in their message. The good ones know how to communicate a message even when it seems redundant or obvious. They are the bellwether all layers are looking to for stability.

So, here’s to you, orange-layer leaders. You’re not as flashy as your red-layer contemporaries, but we see you, applaud your efforts and will eat a slice of cake to celebrate you.•

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Julka is founder of Indianapolis-based DORIS Research, which uses design thinking to organize workspaces.