Marc Le Menestrel

Fairphone: much more than a fair phone

Marc Le Menestrel — 2014-12-19T11:11:50Z

Fairphone is much more than a fair phone.

Fairphone is a fairer phone but it is firstly a movement. Any movement is a transformation of the world, something that continuously changes and evolves. Fairphone is a movement transforming the world, continuously changing and evolving. This is the most important thing I understood from a discussion with Laura Gerritsen (Impact and Development).

Fairphone aims to do things differently. It is “creative, innovative, involving and incorporating many different ideas aiming at changing something not envisioned to be changed.” The primary importance is given to “the process”, “the difference is in how to do things”.

Of course Fairphone has an ambition in terms of “fair economy”, an objective to pay more attention to “human values”. But this is “without determining top down what is fair”, which is done through “debate” as “fairness is subjective”.

The dynamics is not merely motivated by a clear vision of what has to be changed: “this can be debated.” Indeed, the opening of a conversation by providing a “platform for discussion” may be the first transformation Fairphone has already accomplished.

I especially liked the expression that “…in a sense, values are created”. In line with the approach taught in my course, this is an existentialist approach to ethics. Fairphone is not bound by a dogmatic approach defining first what is ethical. They first try to build a very large perspective in order to understand what happens in the field and then act appropriately (see the blog of Laura for what she does around mining, a major issue for the supply-chain of phones).

Fairphone has understood that ethics remains a grey zone. By promoting “transparency” through a debate they want to be “inclusive”. But transparency also means being open about what you have not been able to achieve and what remains to be improved, such as working conditions at mine sites. Hence, Fairphone is not exempt of unfair issues. There is much more to do evidently and they have noted that “being open about the issues you have not been able solve and why does not necessarily lead to more (negative) criticism, but is key to develop a constructive debate”.

In fact, they have been criticized a lot and this has empowered them. “If you take critics seriously, it leads to a good discussion and a good learning. It does not need to be always easy but it can be very useful.” Sometimes, misinformed supporters can also raise issues, for instance by saying wrongly that the phone is biodegradable or fully recyclable. Things are both fair and unfair which, as we know, does not imply that they are equally fair (see ethics as a grey zone).

In class, we often discuss why Apple, Samsung or Sony have not yet launched such a product. For Laura, this is not just about the product. “You can have 1 product over 20000 that is more fair and ecological but what does it mean?” More important is whether there is a change in approach and social and environmental values are integrated in the everyday decision making and activities of companies.

“At Fairphone, the DNA is different. Still, we know we are a small company and believe we need to work together with all players to trigger a change that goes beyond Fairphone. By establishing the market for ethical products we hope to motivate the entire industry to act more responsibly”.

More than a fairer product, Fairphone creates a movement with transparent and inclusive discussions about how to move forward.

Questions for reflection:

• Under which conditions a clear vision of the future is not necessary to accomplish a great project?

• Why, when and for whom it can be difficult to accept that a fairer phone may not be entirely a fair phone?

• Why, when and for whom communicating about ethical vulnerabilities can be appropriate?

• If a company can be “a movement”, what would it mean for you as a person to be “a movement”?

The Spirit and the Power of Money: A Creative Session at THNK

Marc Le Menestrel — 2012-06-30T12:07:02Z

On June 27, I discovered THNK, the Amsterdam School of Creative Leadership by delivering a creative session on the Spirit and Power of Money.

I met the participants of their main Creative Leadership Program in an old brick building, entirely renovated as a spacious, open, colorful and adaptable place. We all sat in a circle on cubes with a very diverse energy. Some of us had taken a short Taï-Chi session while some others were arriving straight from their outside life.

We began with a dialogue exercise of active listening. In pairs, one was responding to the question “How have you been doing with money so far in your life?” while the other was trying to offer the most trustful space by simply listening, without judgment nor interpretation. This already brought us to a common space and we could follow with a guided journey.

We all reached a safe and comfortable place to meet ourselves in the future, learning about who we are, about the Very Important Persons who accompany our inner and outer life, about work and about our achievements. Those who wanted could prepare themselves to be taken in a journey inside the journey in an attempt to meet the spirit of money. In this first exploratory step, there was no other intention than having a first meeting, and maybe also collecting some appropriate message or share some feeling.

I liked very much the sharing of one participant, who met a horse that would flee whenever he was getting closer. On the other hand, the horse would come to him whenever he was walking his own path. Then, as the encounter developed, he was able to ride his "spirit of money" in a transformed relationship.

The atmosphere was thick with our spiritual presence and it was joyful at the same time. I attributed this success to the maturity of the participants, already so much open to living their life as an adventure. After a pause, we could then move to the second part of the session dedicated to the power of Money.

Participants had read my case “A Day at the Big Bank” that I had prepared with Julian Rode in early 2008, anticipating the financial crisis for the top leaders of Bank of America. They presented their strategy to a Board chaired by Brenda Childers, the Director of the Amsterdam Institute of Finance and featuring Kwela Hermanns and Menno Van Dijk from THNK. The board was prepared to be tough on them in order to explore the tensions between corporate strategy of a Big Bank and our willingness to move towards a more ethical financial system.

Participants did a wonderful job, but to some extent, maybe not as creative as they could have been. When trying to analyze their strategies and the way they were presenting, I had the feeling they were somehow impressed by the board and the power of money it represented.

The ambiguity of our relationship with money, well expressed and analyzed by Lynne Twist in her book “The Soul of Money” (which was by the way a main source of inspiration for my work on my own relation to money), was somehow preventing them to express their full potential. Clearly, this could be a good learning, in particular when participants will later look for financing their own projects. I hope our experience with the Big Bank will motivate them to be fully daring with their own social entrepreneurship endeavors.

Eventually, this session allowed us to audaciously raise the fundamental questions of the role of money. I think of them as divided in three main realms of different scales:

– What is the role of money in this world?
– What is the role of money in a company?
– What is the role of money in an individual?

In the design of my pedagogical flow for this special creative session, I looked for each participant to develop their answers from themselves to the world. For most individuals, money is a means at the individual level. Maybe it could also be considered as such at the corporate and global levels?

Dreaming of a world where money would truly be at the service of society, of companies and of individuals, as a sort of universal means towards infinity of specific purposes is nourishing a paradigmatic change that I am trying to contribute to.

Dreaming to change the role of money is at the same time obvious and impossible: a perfect opportunity to re-invent ourselves.

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Immersed in Balinese Spirits: INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Conference 2012

Marc Le Menestrel — 2012-05-26T12:56:00Z

For the 2012 ISEP conference, Hans Wahl and Felipe Santos, from the Social Entrepreneurship Center at INSEAD, had the wonderful idea to locate the events in Indonesia.

We met social entrepreneurs in conferences and workshops, discovering a new generation of women and men who are setting up companies and organizations at the service of others, of Nature or towards some special cause. They are envisioning money as a means and not as an end and dream to re-invent business. I was invited to talk about values, ethics and transparency, bringing my expertise of the "dark side" of business to these already enlightened entrepreneurs. I structured my brief talk around three key messages, each one around the words proposed to me:

Values: "There is an infinite diversity of values. Each one has some specific value which is not fully measured by money taken as a common value".

Ethics: "We are not as ethical as we like to think, and even if we are a social entrepreneur aiming at some noble cause, we should spend some effort to have a critical look at our unethical side".

Transparency: "Transparency is a wonderful criterion between theory and practice to assess ethicality. Beyond being transparent about our ethics, being transparent about one's vulnerabilities allows us to create trust and receive help".

In Bali, I had a special dreaming workshop for ISEP alumni, where I invited the 16 participants to board a boat by bringing their chairs inside the U formed by our tables. We made 8 rows of two, side by side, towards east. I spotted a wooden dustbin and took it as a drum. I began to give rhythm to our journey.

Towards the Island of your Dreams with the Balinese Spirits

We left the island and paddled hard to cross the waves to pass the reef. We called for fishes, dolphins and seagulls to show us the way towards the island of our dreams. We experienced the void of an entirely flat horizon. We found our island unexpectedly, once we were sure to be lost, and nearly capped just before reaching the shore.

From this low place, I invited them to leave everything they knew behind and, with empty hands, start exploring their dreams. I was to stay by the boat, playing the drum to maintain the connection with their intention. They could meet the people of their dreams, if any, and observe whatever they could sense. They were watching their spirits busy at work, or not, witnessing animals or other forms of wildlife. They were looking for a treasure to bring back as a help to face the challenges they identified in a previous session. Some were exploring a forest or a mountain, others a town or a village, while some were just partying with friends and having their good time. Most of their discoveries remain mysteries to me, as I was alone with my boat. An old man did come to me and, placing his hands on my feet, he told me to nurture humility as a treasure.

Many came back to the boat at my call their smile so big it would rip their face apart. Others looked neutral or absorbed. It was anyway time to board and paddle hard to quit the island. It is indeed back on the boat that some received their appropriate message. One was told there was no other treasure than life and nothing to look for except existence. Others were cherishing their piece of nature, an animal, a thought or a feeling, on their way back home.

While opening our eyes in the room, we slowly moved towards a big board where we could share some of the words we had received from our very important persons. One realized he was the important person to be cared of. Another told us about the ugly island she discovered, to finally go around her nightmares and discover her dreams hidden behind. Many humbly shared the beauty of their dreams, the overwhelming energy they have inside and this uncontrollable connection with the source of our love. For a few, it was also an opportunity to have the courage to be gentle to themselves, and to realize that it may be time to do what we have always known to be good to us. I personally liked when an Indonesian brought back the forgiveness of her mother, by thus forgiving us all, in acceptation of all the vulnerabilities that make our richness.

I believe we were all ready to make our dreams come true in this world, wherever it lies.

About spirituality and social entrepreneurship, read the article "The Next Revolution is Spiritual" from Ben Bowler, one of the participants, in the Huffington Post.

Marc Le Menestrel

Fairphone: much more than a fair phone

The Spirit and the Power of Money: A Creative Session at THNK

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Immersed in Balinese Spirits: INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Conference 2012

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