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In this episode, Adam and Budi conclude their 2023 Book Club series with a deep dive into 'The Art of Gathering' by Priya Parker. We look at the transformative impact this text had on Adam's professional journey. Serendipitously, we were able to record this episode on the day of Budi's PhD Seminar which allowed us to reflect on the power of intentional gatherings and the subsequent impact of shared experiences.

Priya Parker’s bold approach to gatherings redefines the ways people connect, learn, and develop relationships. The acclaimed author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters, executive producer and host of the New York Times podcast, Together Apart, and the founder of boutique advisory firm Thrive Labs, she helps activists, elected officials, corporate executives, educators, and philanthropists create transformative, unforgettable gatherings that allow them to step back from their daily routine, rediscover their motivations, and develop strategies for innovation.

In The Art of Gathering, Parker combines fascinating case studies culled from an international cast of characters with practices to follow—and rules to break— to connect more meaningfully with friends, colleagues, and strangers. She includes examples from her attempts to create connections, illustrating which tactics worked and which ones failed. Included among her success stories are “#IamHere Days,” self-organized adventures in which a group of people unplugs and explores a neighborhood, and “15 Toasts,” dinner parties where each guest has to toast to a common theme (the twist: the last one has to sing their toast). Parker’s interactive talks are both a demonstration of the techniques described in her books and a guide on how to implement her strategies.

Parker has helped numerous clients develop better in-person and virtual gatherings, including the Museum of Modern Art, LVMH, the World Economic Forum, meetup.com, and Civitas Public Affairs. Trained in conflict resolution, she has worked on peace processes in the Arab world, Southern Africa, and India, and is a founding member of the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, where she worked on race relations on American college campuses. She has been appointed as a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Values and the New Models of Leadership Council, and is also a senior expert at Mobius Executive Leadership.

Parker’s The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters has been named a Best Business Book of the year by Amazon, Esquire Magazine, NPR, the Financial Times, 1-800-CEO-READS and Bloomberg. She has spoken on the TED Main Stage, and her TEDx talk on purpose has been viewed over one million times.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes.com, Oprah.com, Real Simple Magazine, Glamour, The Today Show, and Morning Joe,  among others. Parker studied organizational

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Show Credits
Co-Hosts: Adam Marple & Budi Miller
Producer: Jack Burmeister
Music: (Intro) Jack Burmeister, (Outro) https://www.purple-planet.com
Additional compositions by @jack_burmeister