Today I had the opportunity to speak with Munro Magruder, Associate Publisher and Marketing Director at New World Library. New World Library is a publishing company started in 1977 by Shakti Gawain and Marc Allen, which publishes “books that change lives,” by bestselling authors such as Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra and Dan Millman.

I asked Munro several questions about the company and what it’s like to work there.

Munro described New World Library as “a company that people would want to work for.” They have about 17 employees, all of whom receive great health benefits, profit-sharing, salary increases and the ability to work flexible hours. There is even a yoga class offered at the office on Fridays during lunch.

Employees are given a lot of leeway and are encouraged to use their talents and creativity.

This flexibility along with the excellent benefits have led to a very low employee turnover. Munro said that what he likes most about working there is the flexibility of the job and the passionate co-workers around him.

“Marc [Allen]’s biggest strength,” he says, “is that he hires good people and he lets them do their jobs.”

Based on what Munro said, I gathered that New World Library is a company that cares deeply about their employees and their responsibility to the environment and the world around them. They are a 100% solar-powered company and most of their books are printed on 100% recycled paper.

This responsibility seems to have rubbed off on the employees. When asked what makes his company different from other companies, Munro said that not only are we “passionate about what we do,” but everyone takes responsibility for both the good and the bad.

When a project succeeds, they celebrate as a team. When a project doesn’t go as well as planned, each person takes responsibility and there is no blaming of other people.

It sounds to me that this atmosphere of teamwork and personal responsibility is what has allowed New World Library to thrive as a company. Even with the recent recession, the company has been able to maintain employee enthusiasm and they haven’t had to lay off a single worker.

Kudos to Munro, Marc and the rest of the staff at New World Library for leading by example and showing the rest of the world how to run a successful and responsible company.

Today I had the opportunity to speak with Gayle Carpentier, Chief Business Development Officer at TechSoup Global, a large and growing nonprofit based in San Francisco, with offices all around the world. TechSoup Global was founded in 1987 on the belief that technology is a powerful enabler for social change.

I asked Gayle several questions about the culture and atmosphere at TechSoup.

“Professionally,” Gayle said, “it is a very open environment. People are listened to and we almost never say no to any good idea.”

“Personally,” she continued, “the environment is even better. We are treated like people, rather than just cogs.”

She went on to tell me how the organization was very supportive of her during a difficult time in her life when her husband became sick and passed away a couple years ago. She mentioned that the organization will work with an employee to support different schedules and work arrangements.

I asked her whether employees are encouraged to think creatively and use their unique talents. She said, “Yes, definitely. In fact part of our hiring criteria is that our employees lead robust external lives. We demand more of people than to simply go about their business.”

“What I enjoy most about working here,” Gayle says, “is the opportunity to work with bright and clever people. I have my best conversations with people around me at work.”

When asked what the organization does to keep it employees happy, Gayle described a culture where each employee’s needs are important. Sure, they have all of the usual benefits, such as a health plan and a 403b (the nonprofit equivalent of a 401k), but TechSoup goes beyond that.

“They look first at the person,” Gayle says.

Rather than putting systems in place to keep up morale, she describes a more organic approach, where any time an employee might be struggling, someone will step in to find out how they can help.

I asked Gayle what makes TechSoup different from other companies out there. She responded that “people are not tied down or held back by the corporate structure.”

Since TechSoup is a nonprofit, people are able to focus on service first, and profit second.

The more I reflect on that statement, isn’t that they way all companies should be?

Welcome to part 2 in the Corporate Cultures series. Today, I had the opportunity to speak with David Bischke, Director of Operations for LearnOutLoud.com.

Learn Out Loud is a small company located in Santa Monica, CA, which is focused on promoting the use of audio and video educational material for personal and professional development.

In 2005, David and his brother, Jon, often found themselves sitting in heavy traffic in Los Angeles, an area known for horrendous commute times. They had an epiphany when they realized they could use their “dead” time as learning time. They decided to build a company that would encourage people to grow and learn while commuting, exercising, doing chores, or other “dead time.”

The company is made up of about 5 full-time employees and some part-time employees, all friends of David and Jon. When asked whether the company does anything specific to keep its employees happy, he said that there was really no need for that at Learn Out Loud.

“When you employ a lot of friends,” David says, “that brings happiness with it.”

He said the company only hires people who are passionate about learning and growth. Because of this passion, employees are happy to be a part of the company, and everyone feels like an integral part of the company’s mission.

As an added perk, employees get total access to all of the audio and video products. This allows them to keep learning and growing while staying up-to-date on all of the latest learning programs.

When I asked David what he most enjoys about working at Learn Out Loud, he said it is the learning aspect. Not only has he gotten to learn how to run a successful online business, but he gets access to all of the best lectures, podcasts and audio learning programs available.

To find out more about Learn Out Loud, and to browse their archives of over 20,000 audios and videos (many of them free), visit http://www.learnoutloud.com

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!