Fredagsstafetten med David Fallon

Hva skal til for å gi deg helgefølelsen?

My daughter asking for an ice-cream 856,789 times per second when I pick her up from Barnehage. Also sitting with the same daughter on the couch as she gets her Friday TV treat/fix of 20 mins of Gabby’s Dollhouse/Bluey. Once she’s in bed and soundly asleep, the sound of a bottle of cider being opened, and my wife and I spending four hours choosing something to watch and landing on nothing and re-watching an episode of Peep Show instead. Also, cake in the canteen.

Hva må du alltid ha lett tilgjengelig på pulten?

Chewable Xanax (joking), my keyboard, mouse, laptop, big screen, and far too often some form of pastry and a latte (ideally in my keep-cup). I also need Stian and/or Phillip desk-adjacent to be able to operate at full emotional and intellectual capacity.

Fredagsstafetten med Stian Sande

Hver uke blir vi kjent med et nytt kommunikasjonsfjes, denne uken har vi snakket med Stian Sande i Statkraft.

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Hva tar mest tid i jobben din som folk ofte ikke ser?

I never could have guessed how complex the energy industry is. My colleagues understand it much better than I do, so it can sometimes take me concerted time and what’s left of my dwindling supplies of brain power to really get to grips with the details. After that, reworking a single sentence in a script, article or post to get it to sound just right. The devil is often in the detail in a lot of content we produce in our team. Also, writing anything in Norwegian.

Hva er ditt svar til de som setter spørsmålstegn ved viktigheten av kommunikasjon?

Ten/fifteen years ago, I would probably have found it hard to argue why Communications is absolutely essential. These days, in a climate crisis, nature crisis, and dis/misinformation crisis in what is fast becoming a post-fact world, the reality is that relatable, factual and HONEST communication is genuinely important. I work in the renewable industry, and while no industry is perfect, the scale of mistruths levelled at renewable technologies is astounding. We have a massive challenge on our hands if we’re going to be successful using words, pictures and videos to make a compelling case for a very necessary energy transition.

Gi eksempel på en kampanje som nylig har imponert deg?

Greenpeace did some great stuff during the recent energy crisis and in response to Tony Blair’s ‘letter’ encouraging the world to use more fossil fuels, because… money. This Belgian campaign video encouraging people to choose cycling over driving is old but it’s funny, likeable, smart and effective and I’m furious I’ve never had an idea as good (what a final line, too). Finally, I love this guy Oli Frost who does brave, endlessly creative work calling out climate-wrecking industries and the hypocrisy of agencies that choose to work with them.

Sommertilbud på kurs

Bestill 3, betal for 2! Nå kan du sikre deg høstens digitale kurs til en ekstra god pris.

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Hva er ditt beste tips til unge/nye som er på vei inn i kommunikasjonsfaget?

You have a ludicrous advantage in knowing the tastes and preferences of an entire generation, so don’t be too shy at leveraging that. Also, be sure to respectfully challenge how the tone of a corporate company actually sounds to people’s ears; there’s so much credibility to be won and lost in that simple space (as long as what you’re saying is genuine, of course). Additionally, remember that people older and more experienced than you will most likely still suffer some form of professional insecurity, so don’t stress too much with imposter syndrome (does Gen Z do imposter syndrome or is that a Millennial thing?). Finally, I know this is our generation’s fault for letting it happen, but please don’t be on your phone too much during the working day (unless you’re researching great new content ideas).

Hvem synes du vi skal intervjue neste fredag?

You’ve done Man of the Year 2026, Stian Sande, already, and I guess we can’t have three from the same company in a row so you can save the James Dean of creative corporate comms, Phillip Navin, for an upcoming profile. Instead, I’ll tag Alejandro Viquez with whom I have worked, laughed, cried and cried some more. He’s a man of brilliant ideas, excellent media understanding, a ludicrous capacity, and he’s also a good, kind person. He is handsomer and younger than me, though, which I think we can all agree is pretty rude.

Og hvilket bonusspørsmål ville du gjerne hatt?

David, you’re aging beautifully. What are your thoughts on Artificial Intelligence?

Thank you, I drink a lot of water*.

Re AI (I’m going to lose some friends here): I have no issue with a tool or technology eventually taking my job. I’m not a pediatric brain surgeon, and no industry is sacred. I would also naturally support the targeted, responsible use of a tool that really helps people or the planet (eg. climate, nature, medicine, mental health, energy efficiency), so where AI can do that, let’s get it done. What I do have an issue with is ubiquitous, manic use of a tool that most ostensibly steals the work of true artists, vastly worsens the impacts of the climate crisis, steals water, and pushes ludicrous amounts of money into the hands of a microscopically tiny minority of billionaires who could care less about any of us. We embraced social media like it was the second coming. What exactly about our experience with that technological revolution tells us that we’re in anyway capable of managing the AI era responsibly?

Also, the next person to call someone a Luddite for not embracing AI needs to read up on the Luddites: they weren’t per se or solely against technological progress; mostly they were skilled artisans and workers trying to defend their right to adequate pay for often very hard-learned crafts against a capitalist elite intent on owning all means of production, and as a result happily bankrupting workers (and their families) so that these charming financial overlords could save a few quid on their costs and become (altogether now) wealthier. Sound familiar? Sadly, the government of the day supported the business owners by making ‘machine breaking’ punishable by death. Just ask ChatGPT if you don’t believe me.

*Not actually true.