Reprinted from the August 12, 2021 edition
Last of three parts
Every day we find ourselves in gatherings, Priya Parker wrote in “The Art of Gathering.” If we can understand what makes these gatherings effective and memorable, then we can reframe and redirect them to benefit everyone, host and guest, alike. Parker defines a gathering as three or more persons who come together for a specific purpose. Priya Parker is a facilitator and strategic advisor.
She is the founder of Thrive Labs, at which she helps activists, elected officials, corporate executives, educators, and philanthropists, create transformative gatherings. She works with teams and leaders across technology, business, the arts, fashion, and politics to clarify their vision for the future and build meaningful, purpose-driven communities. Her clients have included the Museum of Modern Art, LVMH, the World Economic Forum, meetup.com, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, the Union for Concerned Scientists, and Civitas Public Affairs.
Trained in the field of conflict resolution, Parker has worked on race relations on American college campuses and on peace processes in the Arab world, southern Africa, and India. She is a founding member of the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. She has been appointed a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Values Council and the New Models of Leadership Council. She is a senior expert at Mobius Executive Leadership.
She is passionate about helping people create gatherings in their work and life that are transformative and meaningful for the those in them. She is the co-creator of the 15 Toasts dinner series format and I Am Here Days. Her TEDx talk on purpose has been viewed more than 1 million times.
Priya studied organizational design at M.I.T., public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and political and social thought at the University of Virginia. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y..