Corporate Cultures: Institute for The Psychology of Eating
Welcome to the first post in the Corporate Cultures series. In this series, I will be interviewing people at various positive-minded companies and organizations to find out a little about the corporate culture and what it’s like to work there.
I’m doing this series for 2 reasons:
1. I’m currently looking for a job, after about 6 years of working on my own as a consultant and entrepreneur, and I’d like to know what it’s like to work for an innovative, world-changing company.
2. I felt it would be fun to share what I learn, because it will be interesting to get a glimpse of what it’s really like inside these companies.
The Institute for The Psychology of Eating
According to their website (The Institute for The Psychology of Eating), the Institute’s mission is: “to re-unite the Psychology of Eating with the Science of Nutrition. We believe in the powerful connection between our inner world and our nutritional health.”
Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Nancy Thompson, Community Relations Director at The Institute for The Psychology of Eating. Nancy has been at the Institute for about a year and a half.
She describes her co-workers as a very close group, a small team of 6 or 7 dedicated and passionate people. Everyone wants to be there, they are happy to come into the office, and they all feel like they are contributing to the Institute’s mission.
As an organization that is devoted to personal development, she said that the employees are expected to “walk their talk”, and it sounded like they do just that.
When I asked Nancy if there was anything the Institute does to keep their employees happy, she said something that surprised me. She said, “That’s not even necessary here.” She said that everyone was so passionate about their work and the mission of the Institute that there was no need to make sure everyone was happy. The idea almost seemed absurd to her. 
When asked what she most enjoyed about working at the Institute, Nancy responded that she gets to bring peace, joy and happiness to people who are suffering. What makes the Institute different from other weight-loss or nutrition companies, she said, is that they don’t focus merely on food, nutrition or exercise.
“Who you are when you come to the table is the most important thing,” she says, “even more important than the food you eat. I’ve seen people who eat perfectly, but they still don’t lose weight or get healthy.”
The Institute for The Psychology of Eating trains people to go deeper, to experience both inner and outer health, and to transform their lives, not just lose weight.
To me, it sounds like a great place to work!
