Our intention is to make progress, often across differences, in creating a better future for work – while deepening relationships and building new ones.

To do that, we start by recognizing that we’re an (unusually) diverse group -- in how we think, in our politics, demographics, occupations, socioeconomic status, philosophies, all of it.

And we propose these norms as a way of ensuring that, given who we are, we achieve our goal:

• Keep conversations private. You can only share in public the fact you attended [Going to Work] and how it affected you (in what you learned or experienced or felt), without sharing any of the specific content you heard or said, or anyone else who attended. (We will only make the agenda public, so others can understand the topics we considered.)

• Practice the golden rule… of hearing. Whatever frame of mind you want others to be in to hear what you have to say, put yourself in to hear what they have to say.

• Force yourself open. Everyone participating has layered, complicated, evolving views. Someone's public persona may code a certain way, and their actual views may differ (dramatically) from what you expect. Get “curious before furious.”

• Take risks. If you find yourself saying and asking the same things you always do, or staying at the surface of an issue, you’re doing it wrong. This is the place to try another way.

• Know yourself. Step away from a discussion if you need a break (whether because something you heard bothered you so much you might regret your response to it, or you need to return a phone call that’s nagging at you, or for any other reason).