Applying Burning Man’s Community Principles at Work (5 Ideas)
By: Katya Kroupnik
Tags: Community, Culture, Work, Authenticity, Burning Man

How I’ve been incorporating the 10 Principles of Burning Man to try to increase creativity and kindness in the workplace.

“Why can’t I be myself at work?” “My boss doesn’t understand me.” “I can’t wait until my next vacation to get out of here.” Studies show that nearly ½ of the population doesn’t like their job, ⅔ don’t feel “engaged or inspired” while all the while, we’re working more.

It doesn’t have to be this way — you can be the change that you want to see in improving culture at your office.

As I’ve experienced connection, transformation and community building at an accelerated rate at my annual pilgrimage to Burning Man (5x), I’ve felt called to share and incorporate the Principles more widely outside of the event, both at and outside of work.

For the uninitiated, Burning Man is one of the largest experimental communities, arts and music festivals in the world which blossoms every August in the middle of the alkaline, otherwise uninhabited dessert in Black Rock City. The event is based on a code of 10 Principles that serve as the community’s North Star and are deeply embedded in the social fabric of the 70,000+ participant event.

My Burning Man Camp, Love Cow, in 2018

5 ways to apply Burning Man’s principles at work

Principle 1: Gifting [your attention].

How this manifests at Burning Man: Gifting is the ‘currency’ of Burning Man. This fusion of an abundance/thriving mindset means that you are to give your gift (material or immaterial) and expect nothing in return. No money is exchanged at the event, aside from the ability to buy coffee and ice at one central location (Center Camp).

Manifesting this principle @ work: Gift your time and presence. Try putting away your laptop and phone during meetings to be fully engaged and make an effort to walk the few extra minutes to meet a teammate vis-à-vis instead of over video conference every so often.

While taking all meetings over VC may seem efficient in the short-term, in-person meetings can lead to better business outcomes in the long-run, as well as “a sense of intimacy, connection and empathy that is difficult to replicate via video,” (Paul Axtell, author of the book “Meetings Matter.”).

Principle 2: Communal effort + civic responsibility.

@ Burning Man: An ownership mindset and hands-on creative collaboration where everyone takes responsibility for the community is encouraged. For example, I help organize a camp for 100+ people which provides food and basic infrastructure for the group for the week. All 140 people joining our camp were required to pay camp dues, help build camp infrastructure and serve a minimum of 2 kitchen shifts. Beyond ‘requirements’, everyone is encouraged to contribute to the experience as the Burn is not a spectator experience.

@ work: Do your part at work to embody communal effort and civic responsibility by acting in accordance with laws and uphold a high-level of ethics in all interactions, both with colleagues and external partners. Constantly, my team discusses how we serve our end users and community leaders — what’s required, expected and how we can surprise/delight our users in sustainable ways. (I’m currently on the global Community Partnerships team at Facebook where we build programs and partnerships to support community leaders and their communities).

Corporations as a whole are increasingly expected to also improve social and environmental conditions, not solely market values. Goodbye 20th century principles where the corporation had one purpose: to increase profits.

Principle 3: Leave no trace.

@ Burning Man: Related to the previous principles of communal effort/civic responsibility, this principle is about radical environmental stewardship and taking responsibility for clearing all physical traces of our activities on the Earth. Quite literally — participants of Burning Man are expected to carry around trash bags to pick up their own (and found) trash.

@ work: Do you clean up after yourself after using meeting rooms? How are you impacting the environment? How about using a reusable water bottle instead of drinking from plastic bottles and using metal silverware in the cafes when available? How about influencing your company’s policies on environmental stewardship or setting up a volunteer cleanup day for colleagues in a nearby park?

Principle 4: Immediacy.

@ BM: Were you just invited to fly in an airplane above the city and the plane leaves in 5 minutes? Take the opportunity, it may not come again. Act now, act on your intuition and desires, and participate in this moment.

@ work: Leave enough space in your strategic and programmatic plans to be able to pivot and seize opportunities as they arise. Each day, block off time (even 15 minutes) for no meetings to allow yourself to reset, dive into deep-thought and/or spontaneously connect with colleagues.

Principle 5: Radical self-expression = bring more of your “self” to work.

Be yourself because being your full self is a gift to you and a gift to others. Speak up, share about your experience, communicate both respectfully and courageously.

Principle 6: have FUN …because everything is temporary and it’s not just about the goal, but also about the journey! (Yep, this is #6 in a list of 5. The unwritten rule is that there are no rules!)

If you’ve read this far into the post, I hope that this inspires you to be just a little bit kinder and more compassionate — at work, at home and in your communities.