Often attached to high-profile gatherings, the dinners give 15 guests the permission to be vulnerable, engage as human beings in an open and genuine conversation, and surprise one another and themselves. The dinners raise awareness of issues that might be too big and elusive to be captured by formal agendas but deserve deep reflection and meaningful exchange. They also are intended to build trust among leaders and create spaces where people are able to bring their “full selves” to the table.

Each exclusive event brings together two hosts along with 15 guests, leaders from business, government, and civil society who are seated around a single table in a private setting. The hosts open the gathering, welcome everybody, frame the theme of the evening, and ask each guest to give a toast devoted to the theme at some point during the evening. As a special twist — providing a strong incentive for keeping the round of toasts moving — the last one must sing his or her toast.

At first we thought we would simply pose a question and moderate a lively conversation among the 15 guests. But we realized that this put a lot of pressure on the facilitators. So one of the guests, Anand Giridharadas, helped us create an alternative format: we invited each guest to offer, at some point over the course of the meal, a toast to what they thought made up “a good life.”

A magical evening unfolded. Participants shared deeply intimate stories, spoke honestly of death, and of what they cared most about in life. The group was able, for an evening, to connect to one another in a deep and meaningful way and explore a topic that mattered most to them. It was deep but not heavy, someone remarked. Hearts, minds, and bellies were all full.

We believe the world would be a better place if power and vulnerability had a seat at the same table, and perhaps even clinked glasses. Our mission with 15 Toasts is to create more “safe spaces” for leaders that allow them to be vulnerable and bring their full selves. We hope that the 15 Toasts dinners we host ourselves will inspire you and others to host their own; in fact we would love to grow a community of 15 Toasts hosts worldwide!

The format is relatively straightforward, however, the presence and stewardship of the hosts are deeply important and can make or break the evening. If you would like to host your own 15 Toasts dinner, please be in touch. We would be happy to share with you the things we’ve learned about what helps shape and make the evening and prepare you to successfully host your own.

In return, we would very much like to learn from your dinner and would appreciate if you could share with us your own hosting experience. And we would be delighted to feature highlights from your 15 Toasts dinner here on this site. This will help other hosts and us all to promote the 15 Toasts idea and community.