Business Culture versus Diet Culture – are the set of beliefs you have about business aligning with your personal values? Or, are they more aligned towards an oppressive system like diet culture? Coaches, these are the powerful questions you need to ask yourself.
In a conversation with a colleague, I finally spoke about what I had been feeling about business culture for a long time.
This is what I said: “It is like we are co-opting diet culture, its belief system, and its value system in the way we do business. And that makes me feel like shit.”
*Instant ah-ha moment.*
At that moment, I realized that business culture and diet culture had been running along the same train track. As such, they have the same belief system and operate from the same set of values.
And just like that, it was like I was seeing business culture with a completely new lens. The parallels between business culture and diet culture became so obvious in my own biz too.
BUSINESS CULTURE VERSUS DIET CULTURE
Oppressive business culture is all about the “right” strategy, the “right” pricing, the “right’ formula – the blueprint. And guess what? Diet culture is the EXACT same way.
Diet culture is all about the “right” meal plan, the “right” diet, and the “right” way to exercise.
Are you starting to see it now, my dear colleague?
Both oppressive business culture and diet culture always aim at the solution being OUTSIDE of you. In turn, they send the message that you are not smart enough or not good enough. And they both focus on the actions that you are either getting “right”, or getting “wrong”.
THE SOLUTION TO OPPRESSIVE BUSINESS CULTURE
Sooo… now what? Where do we go from here?
My colleagues, it all starts with awareness. We need to be aware of oppressive diet culture before any change happens. Which includes, recognizing that the solution is not to do more actions (like diet culture would suggest).
The ultimate solution is this: reshape your mind, not your business.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN LISTENING TO THIS EPISODE:
- What oppressive diet culture is & why it’s harmful
- The one thing that will have you question EVERYTHING in your business (in the best way)
- 6 parallels between oppressive business culture and diet culture
- The 4 key components of a non-diet approach business
- How to create and test your own intellectual property