“We had seven minutes left on the clock until the event was officially over,” Priya Parker writes in her book The Art of Gathering. 1: It…
1: Priya Parker had been hired to facilitate a meeting on “one of the most politically divisive issues of our time,” she writes in her…
1: Everyone fears the “Thanksgiving problem.” The “total free-for-all of pent-up grievances that often brings out tears and a screaming match, culminating in your cousin’s…
1: “We need more heat,” Priya Parker’s client nervously whispered into her ear, she shares in her book The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and…
1: Who hasn’t been there? The conference where everyone networks by presenting our “best selves” and sharing how smart we are. The lunch or dinner…
1: The Harvard Kennedy School of Government is an intense place. “The culture taught us to avoid sounding stupid in front of one another,” writes…
1: Imagine a family gathering. Aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews. “Normally at such dinners, no one reveals anything fresh or surprising,”…
1: The World Economic Forum (WEF) brings together the rich and powerful several times a year, most notably in Davos, Switzerland. Priya Parker and a…
Openings matter. 1: Case-in-point: The first day of Professor Sugata Roychowdhury’s accounting class at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Sugata doesn’t lower…
Author Priya Parker once attended the funeral of a close friend. 1: “The church was packed. Hundreds of family members, friends, and former colleagues gathered in…
1: Comedian Baratunde Thurston was in a tight spot. He was hosting a comedy event that was part fundraiser, part party. The location? The Brooklyn Brewery. “On…
There was a key in the envelope and a note that read: “To be continued.” That was it. Four months earlier, Felix Barrett, a prominent…
“Parking for your Landspeeder, Sandcrawler, or other transportation vehicle will be provided,” read the invitation to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiere. “Simple as…
The short answer? Yes. Our gathering actually begins at the moment our guests first hear of it. “This may sound obvious, but it’s not,” Priya…
Professional facilitator Priya Parker was leading a two-day retreat for a group of twenty consultants just outside Bangkok. 1: “In Thailand, and particularly at this…
1: It’s the first day of class at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. About one hundred graduate students find their seats. Professor Ronald Heifetz, a popular…
Imagine we are in a movie theater. The people in the row behind us are talking to each other. Or, perhaps the person next to…
Question: Why do party guests often end up hanging out in the kitchen? Answer: We humans don’t like big, open spaces. We “instinctively seek out…
1: The famed photographer Platon’s signature style is to shoot his subjects so close we can see their pores. “Platon has photographed every sitting U.S.…
1: The two companies had been negotiating for more than a year. The issues were complex, but the $20 billion merger between Alcatel and Lucent finally…