#22 - Your World Is Not My World: A different look at conversations that go sideways

Friday Nov 6, 2026, 2:00 PM → 3:15 PM Europe/Zurich

The topic:

Brave Conversations

We each experience the world through our own lens: our preferences, our habits, our sense of what "normal" looks like. Most of the time this goes unnoticed. It becomes more visible the moment stakes rise and someone disagrees with us. Suddenly the other person seems unreasonable, difficult, or simply wrong… They may not be. They are just looking at it through their own lenses. 

Difference is not the problem in a difficult conversation. Not seeing it is. This session looks at what happens when our internal maps collide, and why the reflex to convince, defend, or avoid tends to make things worse.  

Through examples, short interactive polls and live input from participants, we will map the range of preferences sitting in the room, then look at what to do with that information when a 
conversation starts to heat up. 

 

 

What you'll take away:
• A simple way to recognise when you are dealing with a difference in preference rather 
than a difference in facts 
• Why the moment before you respond matters more than what you say 
• Small, low-effort moves you can use in your next difficult exchange 
• A clearer sense of your own default reaction when opinions diverge 

This micro-talk will be held in English, on Zoom.

The expert:                   

Renatus Hoogenraad has been running CERN's Challenging Conversations training for over a 
decade. Founder of Sparks Sàrl in Geneva, he works with international organisations and global companies on communication, collaboration and conflict, drawing on applied improvisation, executive coaching and service design. 

Renatus acts as executive coach, senior organisational development consultant, innovation and process facilitator and trainer. He specialises in facilitation training and works with all kinds of organisations to create sustainable change by developing organisational agility and collaboration effectiveness, leading to sustainable business and human results. 
As an example, his extensive experience in for-profit and nonprofit organisations allows him to accompany both C-suite transformation projects with multinational companies such as L’Oréal as well as coach ministers of state in African countries for large scale systemic and cultural transformation projects of their national health systems.  

Additionally, over the past 15 years he has designed and delivered multiple L&D initiatives for CERN, including communication training programs and team retreats. Through this work, he has developed a strong understanding of how the organisation functions, as well as the challenges the work force may encounter throughout their careers at CERN. He is a fully certified ICF coach and expert contributor to the book "This is Service Design Doing". 

In 2006, Renatus founded the boutique consultancy Sparks, Sàrl based in Geneva.  
Renatus is fluent in English, French and Dutch and holds degrees in both Business Administration and Performing Arts. Renatus works all over the world and has taught at business schools such as IMD in Switzerland.