About Us

8Rules grew out of The Mill, an early stage idea and startup accelerator focused on inclusive investing. We take the best aspects of the startup sector into larger, more established organizations to inspire and develop new mindsets and practices at work.

Our priority is to help people find more meaning and connection with purpose and people through work. 

Over the last six years, 8Rules has engaged with large and small organizations through our signature 48 Hour Founder program series, custom designed learning and facilitation services and executive coaching for individuals and teams.

“Your personal core values define who you are, and a company's core values ultimately define the company's character and brand. For individuals, character is destiny. For organizations, culture is destiny.”

― Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

Why Rules?

Startup culture is rife with advice about breaking the rules. We get it. In many ways innovation only happens when we break through the standards and norms for how things work and introduce a new way. Yet, healthy change isn’t that simple. It doesn’t fit neatly onto a t-shirt or an inspirational poster. 

Healthy innovation abounds in paradox. Mind stretching, heart rending, sometimes stomach churning contradictions. Break the rules, yes but not all of them. Not the important ones. Not the ones that betray integrity or compromise character or shatter trust. For us, knowing the lines we won’t cross and – even more – knowing what principles we will cross any line to create, protect or defend helps us help others cultivate healthy innovation. These are the 8 Rules that guide our work. We don’t always do them all perfectly but we will never stop trying to do them well. 

Our Team

Jill created 8Rules to help people get meaning and joy out from their work. She has been in the innovation space for more than fifteen years as an investor, executive coach, consultant, startup founder and advisor. She spent her first professional decade in leadership roles at large organizations like the J. Paul Getty Trust and the California State University. Jill has a BA in International Affairs from California State University, Sacramento and an MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Jill Murphy
Marty Jo brings 25 years of experience to her role as Head of Operations for the 8Rules Team. She has worked alongside the executive teams at large academic and non-profit organizations. Marty Jo has also served as a director at an innovative private school. She applies her penchant for organization and her keen ability to keep everyone focused on the goal, to serve the through line of her career: helping to improve the lives of others.
Marty Jo McGrath

“If we want people to fully show up, to bring their whole selves including their unarmored, whole hearts—so that we can innovate, solve problems, and serve people—we have to be vigilant about creating a culture in which people feel safe, seen, heard, and respected.”

Brené Brown, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. ​

Our Concentric Community

We’re a small team that works in a beautiful, diverse, inspiring, complex world. 8Rules starts with us and then it is quickly surrounded by the concentric circles of our community. The first ring is made up of the people who are more than colleagues, they are the friends who sustain us, work with us, laugh, cry, commiserate, challenge, and  problem solve with us. They are the people who map our world with love. This circle of “work friends” has been created over dozens of years and thousands of big and small moments. 

The next circle consists of the phenomenal organizations that we collaborate with and rely on to fill out our capacities. We can’t do it all. Thankfully, we don’t have to.

Next are all the clients who have entrusted us with the gift of work. It’s no small thing to bring someone into your organization and trust them with your people. We take our partnership with clients and the responsibilities that come with those words very seriously.

The final circle surrounding us all is made up of the researchers, thinkers, and leaders who share their ideas and work through books, papers,  podcasts and more. Our philosophy is to help people learn by trying things. We develop those experiences by  grounding them in the research contributions of innovative thinkers who are committed to equity and inclusivity of all people.

None of this work would be worth it without our concentric community.

To our closest friends and colleagues and the most famous storytelling researchers we admire, we are grateful for each and every one of you. THANK YOU!

Meet Our Community

While we can’t include links to everyone all at once – the page would never end – here are some of the voices who influence us.