Hi @madbilly - finally getting around to taking enough time for your extensive feedback. Let me start off by saying how much I appreciate your support and the level of detail you go into! A true goldmine for future improvements
I’ll go ahead and address your points one by one.
Bas is a true character visionary, radically transparent and very outspoken - A side effect of this candor can be, that some may be taken aback by what he has to say, or the way he says it. In this case, I don’t believe he meant to use the word “creative” as an adjective qualifying his genius over other people, but rather his job description so to speak. You could also call it “inventor”, “innovator” or the like. This is not to say, I don’t see your concern here, but when it comes to Bas, there’s not a lot of middle ground He is, who he is and that’s what you get when you interview him - Which is also quite special, because he shares his thoughts and experiences more freely with the community, allowing a more comprehensive look behind the scenes.
Thanks also for the technical feedback. I’ve read the issue with the gain in another comment and I see, or hear, what you mean. The good thing is, that we now have a baseline to work from: Tweak the mixing and mastering to deal with the rest of the echo in Miquel’s recording, adjust the gain to match other podcasts out there and think about the way we publish them (RSS feeds, spotify, podcast, itunes etc. etc.).
Now we’re getting to the fun stuff! Thanks for your suggestions. I was playing around with different format ideas and one option could be to have shorter ask me anything type podcasts, where we get the expert of a certain field in front of the mic, to address questions from the community on a regular basis. I’ll look into that!
Mass-balancing and the politics of ethical decisionmaking in the supply chains are both fascinating and very complex issues, that we’re developing episodes for in the future. The question for me is, how do we frame this topic, who do we invite/talk to, or maybe this could be combined with an earlier suggestion, where we actuallt take this podcast on the road and join the impact innovation team to travel to, for example, the mines in the DRC.
Personally, I would love to be blunter and call out the general industry and even certain players more, to take responsibility - but this is a real challenge and gets very delicate, very quickly. You see, we want to change the industry from within, by offering a more sustainable alternative, that you - our growing community - can support and in doing so, we are teaming up to prove, that there is a market for ethical consumer electronics. Ideally, we want other manufacturers, suppliers, factories, mining operators etc. to realize that this is the way forward and join our projects. We need to find a balance of telling the inconvenient truth, without alienating the industry, to include more and bigger players in our projects for maximum impact.
Good call with the unanswered questions. I’m starting to work my way through the forum and collecting feedback, concerns and open questions. I wonder if podcasts are the right format though, as I hope to keep them story-driven. Maybe a comprehensive blogpost would be more practical?
When it comes to the topic of bribery, I think it goes back to my first point about Bas and his way of storytelling. It was a deliberate decision on his part to disclose this, to highlight the issues that we have to deal with when trying to change things from within. And it was my deliberate decision not to edit his story and let it be heard. Personally, I don’t think it is necessarily a question about the semantics of what is or isn’t a bribe, rather than a discussion we all need to have on the ethics of (sustainable) change. Zooming out, Bas later says that sustainability is a dirty business and he’s right. The truth is, that especially in sustainability, next to nothing is black or white, good or bad, just or immoral - and that extends to everything Fairphone is trying to achieve. I think we’ve been very open about the fact, that the Fairphone is not a 100% fair phone. Sure, we improve with every model we make, because we develop better relationships with suppliers, gain trust from the industry, demonstrate support from our kickass community and so on, but we are far from there yet. If it was really about the numbers, we could have decided to produce in Europe for example, but that would not solve any of the underlying issues that factory workers in China are facing. The same goes for artisanal small scale mining in the DRC, Uganda and other areas. The part of Fairphone’s mission that resonates most with me is, that we’re in it for the positive impact on the affected areas and people, rather than winning some sort of race to the highest percentage of “green numbers”. This includes working in areas with human rights violations, to build structures for solutions, where there aren’t any yet and encourage collaboration on existing efforts.
At the end of the podcast, Bas contrasts the dilemma with the bribe with another situation, where he was forced to decide between a significant delay in delivery time or upping the hours of factory workers. In that second case, he chose the workers over the immediate satisfaction of (paying) customers. Both instances speak to the type of company he envisioned and we have grown into. Without a doubt, we do not condone bribery in any shape or form! In this case, Bas felt that it was important to acknowledge it and open the public debate about it. And I personally agree. However, I understand that not everybody feels the same way and we welcome open discussion on these topics, which this forum continues to deliver in the greatest ways.
This is my personal take on the matter. I don’t speak for Bas or Fairphone as a whole. I hope that this contributes to the overall discussion and I’m curious to hear your take on it.
Again, all of the participation, support and criticism is not only appreciated but essential to keeping Fairphone sharp, on mission and a company we can all stand behind.
Thanks so much.
Best,
Jan