Connection
Issue No. 17: Quarter 3 2019
Priya Parker and artful gathering Women’s leadership summit review In September, I attended my first Women’s Leadership Summit. It was an incredible, invigorating experience that infused me with inspiration and the feeling that I was surrounded by my people. There were over 750 women in attendance, over 20 educational sessions, and copious wellness and social activities. Debbie Millman was the consummate host, punctuating summit logistics with wry humor and heartfelt sentiment. Priya Parker was the headliner of Day One and led a smallerscale fireside chat with more intimate content, scale, and conversation. Parker is a conflict resolutionist by trade and author of the best-seller “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters.” Founder of Thrive Labs consultancy, she comes from an organizational design, public policy, and political and social thought background. She has used interdisciplinary synthesis in examining race relations at American colleges and universities and facilitating peace processes in the Middle East and elsewhere. At a gathering of architects and designers, Priya had a unique perspective on the way we relate to one another and how we effect change in our personal and professional lives. An ardent fan, I’ve been focusing on several concepts from her keynote, her fireside chat, and “The Art of Gathering” that I feel are most applicable for designers today. Recently, I presented a version of these ideas in a round-robin happy hour for the Women In Design organization in Pittsburgh. These concepts are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The Passover Principle Generous Authority Pregaming is Important Face Your Life Good Controversy The End
I loved learning about our first concept, the Passover Principle, because I had never read about a Jewish holiday as a philosophical concept and it’s a perfect fit. Passover is the retelling of Exodus and is centered on one main question: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” If you look up the Merriam-Webster definition of a gathering, it directly
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Above: Cover, The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, Priya Parker, Riverhead Books, 2018. Right: Priya Parker at Women’s Leadership Summit 2019 fireside chat (top) and panel moderated by Debbie Millman (below). Courtesy: AIA National
references “An assembly or meeting, especially…one held for a specific purpose.” The heart of this first concept is that a good gathering must have a clear intent and purpose. This agenda must come first because the way you craft each aspect of your gathering reinforces the message you determine in this stage. Second, we have Generous Authority. An important prerequisite to this concept is the distinction between “authority” and “leadership.” Someone can be in a position of authority but
