Priya Parker has become the voice of what it means to gather in this world we inhabit now. She is helping remake the “how” of coming together — and more importantly, the “why.” Long before the pandemic, she points out, we had fallen into rote forms for staff meetings, birthday parties, conferences, shared meals. Virtual or physical, this time of regathering offers a threshold we can decide to cross with imagination, purpose, and joy. This is a conversation with so much to walk away from and put immediately into practice.

Priya Parker is a conflict resolution strategist and author of the acclaimed book, The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. She is a founding member of the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on New Models of Leadership, and a Senior Expert at Mobius Executive Leadership. Learn more about her work, her online Gathering Makeover series, and her email newsletter at priyaparker.com.

This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Priya Parker — Remaking Gathering: Entering the Mess, Crossing the Thresholds." Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.