It’s a simple motto: know thyself. At Rune Labs, we never forget the fact that we are our brains, and that along our journey we have been, and still are, subconsciously absorbing the cultural and behavioral patterns around us. Talent or privilege are never a justification for cruelty and exclusion.

Taking a moment to talk about our habits, biases, and previous experiences before making decisions keeps us on our toes. Whether it’s recruiting, engineering, data science, or business development, we strive to balance our gut instincts with objective markers and input from others. We realize that there’s no perfect science to growing a team or a business, but we trust every single person at Rune to point out our lapses and mistakes and humbly admit their own.

• Eliminating gendered pronouns when referring to groups or speaking generically
• Taking the time to learn and respect how our peers work, solve problems, and self-identify differently than us
• Establishing a consistent and objective job interview process, where all candidate feedback can be corroborated
• Zero tolerance for hate speech or discrimination in any of its forms
• Insisting that final decisions are backed up by objective markers and data, not gut feelings or social capital

Rune Labs is tackling completely new kinds of challenges in a strange and exciting new space of science and technology. We founded Rune Labs upon the core belief that the best solution arises from integrating every possible viewpoint, every experience, every background, and every person. For us, a welcoming, safe, diverse, and inclusive environment is not just a responsibility, it’s a necessity.

We believe no question should ever be turned away, nobody should have to wonder about their progress, and no company decision should be made behind closed doors. Trust is the only thing that scales Rune Labs, and we extend that same trust and communication to the communities, clinicians, neuroscientists, and business partners that we work with.

• Making all documentation and information available to every employee
• Encouraging communication on public channels over closed-door discussion
• Investing the time and resources necessary to ensure no group is excluded or underrepresented from our hiring pipeline
• Always providing honest but kind performance feedback and opportunities for career growth for every employee
• Allocating time each week to learning, teaching, and unblocking others

Many of us here at Rune Labs have been affected directly or indirectly by neurological complications. We realize that, over our lifetime, anyone is at risk. While it is our single-minded mission to bring new treatments and therapies to our communities and loved ones, we don’t believe any end can justify the means.

At Rune, empathy for the patients we engage with fuels not only our drive and passion, but our deep-felt respect of their privacy, dignity, rights, and humanity. We realize we live in a world where data is used just as often for profit as it is for good. There are always opportunities, advantages, shortcuts, and angles. At the end of the day, we always remind ourselves that if we don’t draw a line in the sand, nobody will do it for us.

• Always being honest and upfront with users about how we use, share, and protect their data
• Purposefully designing legal agreements as to remove both possibility and incentive for misuse of patient data, now or at any point in the future
• Discussing and evaluating patient risk in every phase of our engineering process, regardless of whether regulation obligates us or not
• Not taking shortcuts when it comes to security and safety of health data
• Insisting on user experience that is mindful of the patient’s personal time and factors associated with their diagnosis