Somethings we do in our weekly meetings in our nascent startup (no claims on the efficacy of the rituals): Open the meeting with a group clap. This one was sta

Somethings we do in our weekly meetings in our nascent startup (no claims on the efficacy of the rituals): Open the meeting with a group clap. This one was started by a much younger and more social member of our team. My immediate reaction was aversion. But over time I have come to like this and it I chalk it up as our gratitude journal. As a startup, there _is indeed_ a lot to clap for each week. What each member did the last weekend. Again my initial reaction was to get on with the topics at hand. But over the last 20-or-so weekly meetings, it has helped me get a more composite view of a colleague's life. Ending with two puzzles/riddles (I can be a fruit, person or bird. What am I?). My meta-learning is rituals are helpful as bookends. They perform the role of normalizing/flattening everyone to the same abstraction, removing the relative seniority or variance in roles performed. I find them useful.