Four people from different worlds. Difficult statements. Real disagreement, in the room.
So we put four people from completely different worlds at one table, hand them difficult statements they have not seen before, and ask them to name what is actually broken.
It runs about an hour. It is free to attend when it sits inside a public gathering, and it travels to conference stages when the right one comes up. It has run in Warsaw, Gdańsk and Phnom Penh so far, hosted inside Venture Café Warsaw, Infoshare and the ASEAN Startup Connect Summit.
Four panellists are handed difficult statements, blind. For each one, they take a side, then defend it in the room.
Agree. Say where you stand, honestly.
Disagree. Or take the other side, out loud.
Defend. Then hold your ground under pressure.
The room votes on every statement, before the panel gets to answer.
The series lives inside the 5 Spheres of Empathy, and not off to the side, because empathy is not agreement. It is holding a perspective that is not yours long enough to actually understand it. You grow your empathy by growing your perspective, and there are few faster ways to do that than sitting across from four people who see the world nothing like you do and staying in the room anyway.
Boundaries around behaviours, not people. Before a single difficult word, the room agrees how it will treat anyone thinking out loud. That floor is what makes the rest survivable.
Nobody is safely on a stage. It is a table the room sits around, not a row of talking heads. You vote agree or disagree on every statement, and you get to say your own view.
Honest beats polished. The format gives everyone permission to say the real thing, including the panellists who change their minds halfway through.
Connection over winning. The point is not the cleverest line. It is the connection that holds after the disagreement.
Good judgment has a shelf life.
On 9 July at Venture Café Warsaw, four leaders took on the greatest challenges in leadership right now. The statement on screen: your judgment was formed in a world that no longer exists, so you can no longer trust it. Marcin Dakowski and Prof. Ewa Bulska landed on the answer together. The danger is not being wrong. It is being too certain, when you are still changing and so is the world.
Jerzy Brodzikowski, on owning what you do not know: the person who admits "I don't know" is usually the one you can trust with the task. Celina Kretkowska-Adamowicz, on crisis: the bravest response is rehearsed long before it happens, so the team activates and runs without waiting to be told. Every truth of the night pointed back to the same job, which is preparing a space for people.
The mix is the method. This was the table on 9 July 2026, at Venture Café Warsaw, hosted with CIC Warsaw.
Advisor to CEOs. Ex-McKinsey, Allegro.
GM, CIC Warsaw. Venture Café Board.
University of Warsaw. Stanford top-cited.
Empowering Children. Ex-Save the Children.
Every one of them starts with an email. Write in your own words, tell me which world you come from, and I will tell you honestly whether there is a table for you and when.
The audience is half the panel. You vote on every statement and you get to say your own view. When the table runs inside a public gathering it is free and open to all.
Ask where the next one is →Panellists are chosen for the distance between them, not for their follower count. Tables are handpicked and fill from the network out. Tell me what you do and what you are willing to be wrong about in public.
Put yourself forward →The best statements come from people living the problem, not from me. Send the question your industry keeps avoiding, or a statement you think would split a room down the middle. Several have become whole nights.
Send a topic or a statement →Conferences, gatherings and offsites. I bring the format, the statements and the moderation, and work with you on a table that fits your audience. It has run on a festival main stage and in a room of forty.
Talk about hosting one →Five tables in eight months, with two more set for October and November. The format was introduced to G by Alex Firestine.
The greatest challenges in leadership right now. Corporate, startup, science and humanitarian, on whether you can still trust judgment formed in a world that no longer exists.
Nice Doesn't Scale. Four worlds, three statements. AI, humanitarian work, mining, Silicon Valley, disagreeing honestly on what technology owes the people it never touches.
Read the recap →
The greatest problems in tech right now. The format on a main stage, in front of a festival crowd.
Building community, at the 250th gathering. One uncomfortable statement about inclusion, and a live lesson in why a room needs boundaries around behaviour, not people.
Read the full story →
The first table. Founders, VCs, and bankers on the trust asymmetry that decides who gets funded.
Coming next: Innovation Week Prague, 2 October 2026, and the ASEAN Startup Connect Summit, Phnom Penh, 17 November 2026.
Founder of HowLegit. Author of The 5 Spheres of Empathy. Director of ASEAN Startup Connect.
He hands out the statements and keeps the room honest, so the disagreement stays warm.
Leave your email and I will tell you when the next table is set, where it is, and how to get in the room. If you would rather just write to me, hello@5spheresofempathy.com reaches me directly, and a topic suggestion is always welcome.