The Relationship Diet: How to Create Happy, Healthy, and Valuable Relationships (At Home, At Work, and Everywhere You Go)

No one ever teaches you how to relate...Think about it: when, in your formal education, has anyone ever explained what a “relationship” actually is? When, if ever, has anyone talked about the features of a successful, healthy, and mutually-beneficial relationship? And in what class has anyone ever provided insight about specific steps you could take to improve a struggling relationship or, more positively, to secure a strong relationship?If you are like most people, the answer to those questions is likely, “Never! And how strange that I’ve never thought about that, Jim!” I know, right?! Some nice people might say, “Well, my parents taught me...I think,” upon which we all have a chuckle knowing how most of our parents just figured out ways not to kill each other over the course of their relationship (because, spoiler alert, nobody taught them how to do relationships, either). Others think back to that awkward day in grade school when boys and girls were separated and had to watch videos with bad acting about what to do when you had “weird feelings down there.” That’s not what this book is about...well, not exactly, but I suppose if you become better at relating, that could happen.But relationships are not just romantic. In fact, the majority of the relationships we have in life are not of the romantic variety. From family to friends, colleagues to clients, we spend more time engaging with non-romantic partners than we do romantic ones in our day-to-day lives. Plus, our increasingly connected world has thrown some extra spice in the relationship recipe, particularly social/professional networking and online dating sites. The good news is this: a relationship is a relationship, and the variables that make a romantic relationship happy, healthy, and valuable are the same variables that make friendly, familial, and professional relationships stronger and more rewarding. Wouldn’t you like to know what those variables are?In The Relationship Diet, James Mourey, Ph.D., combines half-a-century worth of social psychology research with over a decade of corporate consulting experience to provide a novel relationship framework that will forever change the way you think about and engage in relationships with others. Whether you are a senior executive seeking a better corporate culture (for your company) or a single soul seeking somebody to love (for yourself), The Relationship Diet provides the specific tools and language necessary to build better relationships in every corner of your life.Dr. Mourey begins The Relationship Diet by discussing what a “relationship” is in the first place and why humans have evolved to value relating with others. From there, readers complete the RelatEdTM diagnostic, an assessment tool that provides unique, customized feedback regarding one’s relationship-building strengths (gains) and liabilities (losses). With diagnostic scores in hand, readers learn about the variables science tells us produce stronger relationships and develop an action plan to improve their relationships.So, if you are ready to become a better boss, a better worker, a better colleague, a better parent, a better friend, a better partner, a better person, and maybe...just maybe...a better lover, let’s get started on the relationship education we should have learned as children but never did. Lest you think you’re the only person who wishes relationships in your life could be better, rest assured that one thing is certain: we can all relate. Let’s do just that...

James A. Mourey, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at DePaul University in Chicago where he teaches a consistently-waitlisted course on Consumer Behavior, as well as a Luxury Marketing course that culminates in a trip to Paris and an introductory Improv Comedy course for incoming undergraduate students. Dr. Mourey's research focuses on relationships-both interpersonal and between people and their prized products-as well as on culture, social psychology, and nonconscious processing. His work has been published in several leading academic journals (The Journal of Consumer Research, Psychological Science, Social Cognition) and has appeared in publications including The Atlantic, the Chicago Tribune, Scientific American, and more. Jim also serves as a Visiting Professor at IÉSEG in Paris and Lille, where he teaches a course on Integrated Marketing Strategy. In 2018, Jim was named one of the world's best "40 Under 40" business professors by Poets and Quants, and Jim has been recognized with several teaching awards. Prior to academia, Jim worked as an account executive for a firm specializing in luxury marketing campaign development and as the executive director of the research wing in a management consultancy specializing in corporate culture and relationship consulting. Jim still consults and delivers keynote speeches and/or workshops for companies throughout the United States and in Europe. In his spare time, Jim is an avid singer with the Chicago-based group The Uptones, a fitness fanatic who enjoys long runs along Lake Michigan in summer, and a graduate of The Second City Training Center's Conservatory program. To learn more about Jim or to keep up with his latest projects, please visit: www.jimmourey.com