Chris Gardner is an entrepreneur, international best-selling author and an awardwinning film producer. Gardner’s autobiography, The Pursuit of HappYness became a New York Times #1 best seller and has been translated into over forty languages, including six (6) dialects of Chinese and recently into Arabic. Gardner’s book, The Pursuit of HappYness was the inspiration for the critically acclaimed film in which Will Smith received the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations for his performance. His second book, “Start Where You Are” also a best seller was published in 2009. Gardner’s new book “Permission to Dream” was selected as “Book Of The Month” by the Wall Street Journal upon its publication.
Gardner has been quoted as saying "though the film 'The Pursuit of HappYness' was released close to 18 years ago, the film is probably more relevant and timely today than when it was released". I say that because since 2020 we've all had our own 'Pursuit of HappYness' 'moments' and 'experiences'. If nothing else 2020 has confirmed to us all globally the importance of being able to accept, adapt, embrace and expect change. Change is here to stay. One of the ways that Gardner has changed is doing less lecture type presentations to more fireside chat formats. Here the idea of 'in conversation with Chris Gardner' was conceived. This format includes an 'informal' presentation of thoughts, ideas and experiences called from Gardner's life and forty years of entrepreneurial experiences. Frequently asked questions (FAQ's) are combined with questions submitted in advance by the host/ corporation/association and audience. Answering these questions openly and transparently often with 'movie bites' combined and included create a genuine conversation. This format we've discovered allows something very important to happen 'everybody gets to hear first hand what is important to their audience.'
