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Unlocking our best work

Doing our best work together.

Principles for supporting great teams in an increasingly distant and disconnected working world.

Context

The purpose of this document is to outline principles that any company or individual can follow which support making work more enjoyable, meaningful, and psychologically safe.

The Underlying Philosophy

Build organizations where people have the freedom to do exceptional work, the clarity to know what matters, the responsibility to deliver, and the systems to succeed.

Agency
Give people meaningful autonomy over how they contribute.
Accountability
Expect ownership of commitments, outcomes, and impact.
Reciprocity
Recognize that healthy organizational relationships require mutual responsibility.
Adaptability
Continuously evolve structures, processes, roles, and tools in response to changing needs.
Human connection
Treat meaningful professional relationships as fundamental to effective organizations.

Be disciplined about outcomes and accountability, flexible about methods, and relentless about improvement.

Last updated 10/2026 — Sara Habib

Company operating principles

  1. 01Organizations should follow an organizational operating framework (you can use one that exists or design your own). Frameworks should be regularly evaluated and adapted to meet evolving needs.
  2. 02Organizations should share financial information transparently internally at least 1–2x/year.
  3. 03Companies should offer options to benefit from company success (stock options, performance bonuses, co-ownership, etc).
  4. 04Top-level goals and organizational vision should be clearly communicated via an established frequency.
  5. 05Feedback loops should be varied in methodology, consistent in rhythm, and frequent in cadence. Feedback should improve performance, relationships, and organizational decision-making.
  6. 06“Success” should be clearly defined at the organizational, department, and individual levels. It should be measurable.
  7. 07Meetings should always have an agenda and should be used for collaborative conversation vs updates. Meeting rhythm and content should be regularly reviewed and audited to ensure high value.

Benefits principles

  1. 01Paid time off should be flexible and workers should not be required to earn it. Policies should support autonomy, rest, and personal needs while maintaining accountability for commitments and continuity of work.
  2. 02Organizations should talk with workers about benefits that matter to them, and should build benefits plans based on employee feedback.
  3. 03Benefits should be generous AND financially sustainable.
  4. 04Organizations should make reasonable accommodations for individual circumstances, and workers should exercise flexibility with consideration for teammates, customers, and organizational commitments.

Principles for relationships

  1. 01All employment agreements are relationship agreements. We are always in relationship with our companies and our teammates.
  2. 02These relationships are unique in our lives. Many of us spend more time over the course of our lives with our coworkers than our friends. It is very important to cultivate our coworker relationships with thoughtfulness and intention.
  3. 03Seek first to understand.
  4. 04Communicate early and often.
  5. 05Disagree directly and constructively.
  6. 06Say the thing. Have the difficult conversation. Direct, thoughtful communication is more respectful than avoidance or ambiguity.
  7. 07Clean it up later. Miscommunication and conflict are inevitable. Take responsibility for your impact, repair what needs repairing, and move forward.
  8. 08Take full responsibility for your actions and your well-being.

Principles for workers

  1. 01Workers have a responsibility to understand their own unique ideal work culture, infrastructure, and role, and to communicate it to the organization they are working for.
  2. 02Workers should invest in personal development and in growing their emotional professionalism (have all your feelings and communicate about them in a good way which does not place a strain on teammates).
  3. 03Workers should be clear and honest with organizations and themselves about what they can contribute, what they want to learn, and what they find tiring and demotivating.
  4. 04Workers should accept that some roles may require them to work in a way that pushes the envelope of their experience, includes items they find draining, or may otherwise require them to extend their comfort zone. Workers can say no to working in these roles. And, organizations may not always adapt roles to meet individual workers’ needs.
  5. 05Workers should understand what their work is intended to accomplish, take responsibility for results, and adapt their approach when their activities are not producing the intended outcomes.
  6. 06Workers should understand how their work affects teammates, customers, and the organization. High performance includes helping others succeed.
  7. 07Workers and organizations should regularly assess whether their relationship continues to serve their shared needs, goals, and commitments.

Principles for AI

The below principles assume that Humans and Agents are both participants in the same workflows.

  1. 01Organizations should use AI as an opportunity to fundamentally reconsider how work happens, how decisions are made, and how teams are structured rather than simply accelerating existing processes.
  2. 02Organizations should ensure that the correct amount of context is provided to both human workers and AI Agents.
  3. 03Energy must be invested and re-invested in guardrails and governance for AI, AND these guiding tools should not operate at the expense of the pace of innovation. (Don’t slow yourself down too much).
  4. 04“How Work Happens” workflows should adapt to dynamic functionality: continuous information synthesis, continuous decision-loops, and real-time iteration. Organizations must identify the right places to interject human review.
  5. 05Organizations should structure information provided to AI tools through a relationship lens.
  6. 06Organizations and workers need to focus on human connection more than ever before. Feeling seen, heard, and understood at work, feeling like you matter, and feeling like you are making a difference is vital to maintaining engaged teams of energized talent.

Resources

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