We have two goals for our time together, to help us create a more promising future for work and workers:

• Make progress in our own understanding, across difference and (sometimes surprising) agreement

• Deepen some relationships and forge new ones

To achieve this, we start by recognizing that we’re an (unusually) diverse group—in how we think, in our occupations, demographics, politics, class (both status and upbringing), career stages, philosophies, and more. We then offer the following norms for our time together.

1. Keep your conversations confidential. What’s said here, stays here. What’s learned here, can leave here. You can only share with others that you attended [Going to Work] and how it affected you. Please keep specific content from conversations confidential, as well as the names of other participants. (Yes, this one is actually a rule, not a norm.)

2. Push past your default. Our gathering being private and off the record offers a rare chance to try out ideas with a deeply relevant group. Start a conversation with someone new. Push yourself to question beliefs you thought were settled. Avoid repeating your stock takes and canned responses.

3. Share the air. If you tend to speak more in group conversations, limit yourself. Just as important, if you’re more hesitant to speak up, challenge yourself to take up space.

4. Expect surprise. Every participant has layered, complicated, evolving views. Someone may differ (dramatically) from their public persona. Conversations may end without resolution—and still enlighten everyone.

5. Do what you need to do. We expect that if you start a session, you’ll stay for its entirety, and that you join every session unless you’ve communicated a conflict in advance. Having said that, we also understand you may feel uncomfortable at times. While we hope you’ll accept some discomfort, feel free to step away from a discussion.

To make these norms real, any participant can invoke these norms if they feel someone has violated them: to the individual directly, to a session facilitator, or any member of the [Going to Work] team.