At Singularity University, our community’s culture enables the impact we believe will change the world. Creating an environment in which our members know they are valued—and are comfortable, empowered, intellectually stimulated, and supported—is critical to cultivating an impact-oriented community that helps fellow members grow as exponential leaders.
Identify and help solve problems. Don’t like something you see happening in the community? Offer an idea and partner with SU in developing a better way. Get a dialogue started that welcomes varying approaches, and when offering an alternative view, do it respectfully (see item 4 below). Offer to collaborate to make things better.
Example: A community member isn’t happy with SU’s decision to put the Global Solutions Program (GSP) on hold for re-design. Rather than posting complaints on social media and publicly finding fault with SU leadership, a more constructive action would be to contact SU or the SU Ventures team to understand why the program was put on hold, and offer to organize a diverse GSP alumni focus group that could provide ideas to help SU improve the next iteration of GSP in real-time without causing a delay.
Assume your colleagues are open to what you have to say and interested in finding a solution that works for you and for the benefit of SU. Listen to people. Learn about the challenges they are confronting and what their needs are, and offer a helping hand. Make a connection. Share advice, skills, and resources. Be a partner. Sometimes it’s hard to ask for help, so offer assistance proactively because it’s the right thing to do, and it’s how we’ll succeed together. Let’s be a community of generous givers.
During the Global Summit, Sabrina learns that another community member, Elise, is looking for a partner to help her hotel development company identify ways to use exponential technology. Sabrina thinks about someone in her network who specializes in 3-D commercial design and construction printing and offers to make an introduction to him for Elise.
Be humble, share successes, and be willing to give credit to those who have been instrumental in the work. Understand that we are in a constant loop of innovation, trial, and evaluation, and focus your efforts on supporting the community with the knowledge that whatever you do will enhance your personal brand and reputation within the community. With this approach, others will want to work with you to advance your and their objectives. Your community members are doing incredible things. Celebrate them. Share their success and progress with others, both inside the community and out.
Example: Document your group’s accomplishments and collective impact, and share the information with the SU Community team. We are here to amplify your work. By telling your story, we tell the SU story!
The SU community embraces a diversity of thought and opinions. This is the foundation of our community and the cornerstone of our success in bringing positive change to the world. Be open and positive in the way you communicate with others who may have different viewpoints. Hear what they have to say and consider whether your opinion adds value. Assume others have good intentions and treat them with respect. Show empathy for fellow community members’ perspectives, but also recognize that a combination of different perspectives and spirited, yet respectful, discourse usually yields better results. In an age of extraordinary innovation, we know that solutions to the world’s biggest challenges are best achieved when everyone contributes, and many minds working together will always result in a better outcome. Feel free to respectfully challenge each other and frankly discuss topics that need to be addressed. Never assume that by not addressing an issue that it will go away—otherwise, you risk the potential that it will become a bigger problem later. Divergent viewpoints are welcome when shared in the spirit of open-mindedness and with respect.
Example: Dori is from a country where there are minimal personal data privacy expectations. Members from other countries where data privacy is valued highly ask her why she thinks the benefits of fewer regulations outweigh the costs to personal data privacy. Some disagree with Dori’s position and they debate the topic, but the tone of the discussion is respectful and inquisitive. The debate may or may not change minds, but the group now understands others’ positions and are better equipped to know how to outline and defend their own positions.
Discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or any other identifying characteristic has no place in the SU community. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment in any form. SU reserves the right to remove offenders from the SU community and to prohibit their further engagement with SU-owned or controlled systems.
Example: Marvin registered for the Executive Program. Since viewing profiles of other participants for the upcoming program, he has been propositioning female participants on the EP event app. Someone in the program reports his behavior to SU, and Marvin is informed that his participation in the program is discontinued due to his conduct.
Abusive dialogue, verbal threats, or stoking conflict amongst community members, whether online or in person, will not be tolerated and will result in corrective action by SU. SU reserves the right to delete trolling content, issue a warning to an offending member, and/or remove an individual from a program, venue, or the community at large.
Example: Aziz posts on an SU online forum about his startup’s work to use AI to help non-English-speaking refugees integrate into their new host countries. Shawn replies to the post, saying that refugees shouldn’t come to Western host nations and posts commentary stating that Aziz must be a “terrorist supporter.” Every time Aziz posts something online, Shawn responds by calling him a terrorist sympathizer. Aziz reports this behavior to SU, and SU warns Shawn to stop the online harassment. Shawn continues. SU makes the decision to remove Shawn from the forum and bans him from further engagement with SU and its communities.
Misuse of SU corporate, faculty, partner, member, or other third-party proprietary information is not allowed. Sharing in digital or live community forums, including one-on-one conversations within a forum, should be conducted with the understanding that information you share, or someone else shares, is confidential and should not be shared elsewhere. If you plan to post or use someone else’s content or information, always confirm with the person that you have permission to do so. And, before posting or otherwise sharing your own content or information, assess your comfort level with the content or information in the event it gets shared beyond its initial designated recipients.
Example: Rossana is part of a WhatsApp group of SU community members who are passionate about robotics. Her friend Carlos is an entrepreneur who is working on technology that he is trying to sell to robotics companies. Carlos sends to Rossana a copy of a detailed presentation about his robotics solution for her to refine. The presentation is clearly marked as the “Proprietary/Confidential Information” of Carlos’ company. Rossana thinks that Carlos would benefit from the feedback of the members in her SU WhatsApp group, so she sends the presentation to them as well. SU informs Rossana that this is not acceptable; she is asked to remove the file from the WhatsApp group and informed that any such repeated action will result in being dismissed from the community.
SU’s communities are not a marketing platform, and it is inappropriate for you to brag about yourself or to promote your own interests or those of your business. There is a fine line between self-promotion and sharing milestones. It’s acceptable and encouraged to share your successes, such as a new round of funding or an award, but be mindful of appearing overly self-promotional and be sure to celebrate other people’s successes too. Spamming members of the community is expressly prohibited.
Example: David frequently posts advertisements for his business on SU community digital discussion groups. He also frequently posts articles about himself and photos of his meetings with dignitaries. When someone in the discussion group notes to others in the group that David’s posts feel overly self-promotional, SU coaches David on how to modify his posting behavior.
While you are a valued member of SU’s community, you are not an official representative of SU. Portraying yourself as a representative of SU, misleading others about your relationship with SU, or presenting your own opinions or initiatives as those of SU without express written consent and compliance with SU policies is prohibited.
Example: Cornelius owns a business that runs conferences on blockchain. He uses the SU logo on event marketing materials to lead people to believe that he is a representative of SU, and/or that SU is a sponsor of the event. These activities violate SU’s trademark policy and are grounds for removal from the community. Cornelius’s materials are forwarded to SU, and SU warns Cornelius to remove the SU logo and clarify that he is not a representative of SU. If Cornelius’s behavior persists, SU engages in a legal process to protect its trademarked brand.
If you have questions about the SU community engagement guidelines, please contact members@su.org. For serious violations of our Community Guidelines that require follow up by SU, please feel free to report incidents of concern.