Name: Insights: CEO Marc Benioff on Salesforce Ethical Use Office
Uploaded: 2020-01-14
Duration: 10 min 10 s
Description: Marc Benioff, Chairman and Co-CEO of Salesforce, discusses the importance of using business as a platform for change. (June 2019)

[THEME MUSIC] I want to talk about business, activism, CEO activism. Because I've been covering business for four decades, and I think something has profoundly changed in the last decade. There used to be a very clear line between what business responsibilities were, what government responsibilities were. If you got into hot button social issues, most CEOs would be under the table in a heartbeat-- didn't want to talk about it. Didn't want to go there. It's not my bottom line. And you were kind of at the front end of changing that. When Indiana-- was it four years ago, five years ago-- passed a religious liberties law that you perceived as being discriminatory, you stepped out. And it wasn't even in San Francisco. It was in Indiana. Why did you do it? What was going on, there? Well, the reason why we got involved, and the reason why we get involved in most things, is it's driven by our employees. And I think that if you're-- to kind of get to your question of what's happened in the last decade-- that as millennials have entered the workforce, and companies like mine, they're far more active and more involved in creating the culture. Before, I think, creating the culture was kind of the very lonely job of the HR executive, or maybe even the CEO, and now the workforce realizes they're actually a critical part of making that happen. And so you're really seeing active employees. And that's creating active CEOs. And you can see a lot of examples where we have significant employee activism in tech companies, for example, that has changed the course of the history of the technology industry. And how do-- I think that's a really interesting point. We had a presentation earlier about millennials. And one of the things we didn't get to in that presentation is, because millennials are taking longer to get married, they're less likely to be involved in organized religion, they're less likely to join social clubs, groups-- the Elks club, the Moose club, the Rotary Club, whatever-- the employer becomes their most important formal connection to society. And they put a lot of hopes and dreams and values into the employer. I think, also, that they've just realized they have a choice where they can work. And the thing is that they want to be in an environment and a business that is about purpose. They want to make sure that their company that they're in is actually committed to improving the state of the world. That is a critical part of the employees that we're hiring today. And certainly, the next wave of employees imagine that 2x or 3x. So we're just getting a taste of the future. But you've got people who have a lot of opinions that may not be the right thing for the company, may not be the right thing for the country. I mean, you had an interesting moment when your employees said, hey, we don't want to do work for the Customs and Border Patrol. That's right. I said, really? Yeah. You're not going to support protecting our borders? So how do you-- how do you decide which impulses to support and which impulses to resist? Well, I think this is now-- CEOs are going to have to react to these changes. So what is the first thing the CEO is going to have to do? Well, all of a sudden, I got labeled activist CEO. OK? And it wasn't me. I'm just finishing this book right now called "Trailblazer." It comes out in October. I saw some-- I'm right at the end of the process. And it's really the story of, this is not me. It's not about me. I didn't become, all of a sudden, this activist CEO. I got kind of pushed by my employees, into it. And my job as CEO is to listen deeply to my employees and my customers, and to respond to them effectively. You mentioned Tableau-- I'm doing that because it's customer driven. I was with the-- The investors aren't crazy about it. I was-- well, the investors, they will see, just as they've always seen how amazing it is. Over time. Oh, well, it's just spectacular. I mean, it's just a spectacular combination. Yeah. I didn't mean to-- That was also a year ago, when we bought MuleSoft. But let's keep moving forward. So this concept of, it's about, how do you listen to CEOs? How do you listen to your employees? How do you listen to your customers? And that might-- then, you might be called, oh, I'm an activist CEO because I'm responding to what my employees want. OK? But it's not true. The reality is, if you're not going to do that, you're not going to be the CEO. And we have a lot of examples, actually, in Silicon Valley, of CEOs who are no longer CEOs because they did not listen. Fired by their employees. They did not respond-- fired by their employees. And it's gotten really close on some super high-profile CEOs, where you see employees storm out of the building because they're unhappy with a critical part of the culture. So-- You're talking Google? I'm not naming any names. I just want to say that-- [LAUGHTER] --there is a moment where things can tip. And you have to pull back as a CEO and say, who am I? What am I doing here? And am I listening? And the one other point is this, which is that because of that, you're going to be faced with these kinds of challenges by your employees. You better have a repository for that, that you can then process that. Most organizations don't. And that's why we created our Office of Ethical Use. Because for example, in the example of Customs and Border Patrol, when our employees say, well, should we be doing business with this organization or should we not, then we can say, oh, well, here, we can actually talk to this Office of Chief Ethical Use, and let them be the arbitrator of that. So how would that have been-- tell us how this works. I mean, you say you had a bunch of employees who came to you. They said, we should stop doing business with Customs and Border Patrol. You said, I don't agree. No, I didn't say that. I said-- I would say-- I would never say such a thing. I think if you're a CEO and you say that, you are in big trouble. I don't agree. I this, I that. what I said was, what, I am an expert in this, all of a sudden? Somehow, this is now also something that I have to do as CEO? But you-- you accepted this mantle. Not only do I have to do all these other things, I now have to do this? No. That is not-- But you kind of led the way into this-- It's not the job of the CEO. As a CEO yourself, you know that's not the job of the CEO. Because the job of the CEOs is then to create a process and a structure that lets it auto-resolve. And we'll do whatever we need to do. And for example-- Yeah. So how does this-- We hired Paula, who's going to speak, I think, later today. Yeah. And her job is, she's a phenomenal person in this-- world-renowned expert in this area. And then she sets up an organization, and those employees can go and they can be fully vetted. And in some cases, there will be action, and some cases there's not. Is it a democracy? Do you take an employee vote? How-- how does she-- what is her process to decide whether you should cut off business-- Well, you're going to have to ask her, I guess. That's why you have her on stage, Alan. But as an example-- But what good is a CEO if you can't do that? Well, one of the things in-- we have an amazing thing. We have an incredible product line. Some that we've built organically, some inorganically. And one amazing inorganic acquisition we bought several years ago, now, is Demandware, which is now our Commerce Cloud. And we sell a huge amount online, like Adidas. We're selling lots of Adidas shoes. And everybody wants access to this Commerce Cloud technology, because you can just radically increase the velocity of your sales. And it's got artificial intelligence, our Salesforce Einstein built into it. It's next generation. It is built into our Customer 360. It works with all of our other products. So we have a lot of gun sellers coming to us and saying, we want to sell guns. And we're not opposed to selling guns. Then we had bump stock sellers coming to us. We want to sell bump stocks. Then we had our employees who are in the Commerce Cloud see that, and come to Paula and say, Paula-- We can't do this. Not-- well-- they said, should we be doing this? Is this ethical? How do you look-- and through our own resolution study, evaluation and mitigation with other experts, outside voices, inside voices, we decided we're not going to sell bump stocks. That's not something that Salesforce is going to do. But I'm not going to make that decision. I don't think I can I think I have I think it's better for the company if this is actually a professionally-- because, by the way, it's not just that. There is a list-- OK-- of things that employees want evaluated. Right? And not just from my company-- I'm sure in your organization, and every organization. But if you do not make those changes, then you cannot say-- if business is the greatest platform for change, and you're going to focus on these changes, you can't focus on everything, and you can't do everything. You've got to make priorities. You're not going to take on every cause, and whatever. But you do have to kind of have a north star, and it better be around a structured process to make that happen. And that's why I think, an Office of Ethical Use-- we might be the first ones in technology to do that, but we will not be the last. Just as we were the first to put in a Chief of Quality Officer. You think it's just technology? Or do you think it's much bigger than that? You think this is something that has to be adopted across the board? I think this is far bigger. Well, I went through all the biotechnologies. I mean, you talked about the ethical use of the biotechnologies is amazing. [THEME MUSIC]

Insights: CEO Marc Benioff on Salesforce Ethical Use Office

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The importance of using business as a platform for change.

CEO Marc Benioff on Salesforce Ethical Use Office

Marc Benioff, Chairman and Co-CEO of Salesforce, discusses the importance of using business as a platform for change. (June 2019)

e talk about business activist CEO activism Because I've been covering business for four decades, and I think something has profoundly changed in the last decade. There used to be a very clear line between what business responsibilities were what government responsibility he were. You got a hot button social issues. Most CEOs would be under the table in a heartbeat, didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to go. There is not my bottom line, and you were kind of at the front end of changing that. Uh, when Indiana was four years ago, five years ago passed the religious liberties law that you proceed this being discriminatory, you stepped out. I wasn't even in San Francisco is in Indiana. Why didn't you do it? What was going on there? Well, the reason why we got involved in the reason why we get involved in most things is it's driven by our own place. And I think that if you're kind of get to your question of what happened in last decade, is that his millennials have entered the workforce, Um, and companies like mine, they're far more active and more involved in, um, creating the culture before I think kind of the culture was kind of very lonely. Job of the HR executive or maybe even the CEO. And now the workforce realizes they're actually a critical part of making that happen. And so you're really seen, you know, active employees, and that's creating active CEOs. And you can see a lot of examples where you know, we have significant employees, activism in tech companies, for example. That has changed the course of the history of the technology industry. And how did I think That's a really interesting point. We had a presentation earlier about millennials, and one of the things we didn't get to in that presentation is because Millennials are taking longer to get married. They're less likely to be involved in organized religion. They're less likely to join social clubs, groups, the Elks Club, the Moose Club, the Rotary Club, whatever the employer becomes their most important formal connection to society, and they put a lot of hopes and dreams and values into, I think also that they're just realized they have a choice where they can work, and the thing is, is that you know they want to be in an environment and a business that is about purpose. They want to make sure that the company that they're in is actually committed to improving the state of the world. That that is a critical part of the employees that were hiring day and certainly the next wave of employees. Imagine that Two or three X So we're just getting a taste of the future. But you got people who want who have a lot of opinions that may not be the right thing for the company may not be the right thing for the country. I mean, you had an interesting moment when your employees said, Hey, we don't want to do work for the custom and Border Patrol really like you're not gonna support protecting our borders. So how do you How do you decide which impulses toe support and which impulses to resist? Well, I think this is this is now CEOs, we're gonna have to react to these changes. So what is the first thing the CEO is gonna have to do? Well, they said, you know, I got labeled, um, activist CEO. Okay. And, um, it wasn't me, and I'm just finishing this book right now called Trailblazer comes out in October. It's awesome, you know, right at the end of the process. And you know, it's really the story of this is not me. It's not about me. You know, I didn't become this all of a sudden. This activist CEO I got kind of pushed, you know, by my employees into it. And my job as CEO is to listen deeply to my employees and my customers and to respond to them effectively mentioned like tableau. I'm doing that because customer driven, you know, like I was with the investors, aren't crazy about I was, well, investors. They will, you know, See, just as they have always seen you know, how amazing it is. Overtime. Oh, well, it's spectacular. I mean, you know, it's just a spectacular, um, combination. I didn't mean that was also, like a year ago when we bought meal soft, but let's but let's keep moving forward. So this odd concept of it about how do you listen to see how do you listen to employees? How do you listen to your customers? And that might Then you might be called. Oh, I'm an activist CEO because I'm responding what my employees want. Okay, Um, but it's not true. The reality is, if you're not gonna do that, you're not gonna be CEO. And we have a lot of examples, actually, in Silicon Valley of CEOs who are no longer CEOs because they did not listen, fired by not mired by their employees, fired by their employees. And it's gotten really close on some super high profile. You know, CEOs were seeing, you know, you see, employees like storm out of the building because they're unhappy with a critical part of the culture. So you're talking Google this? I'm not naming any names. I just want to say that, you know, there is a moment where, um, you know, things can tip and you have to pull back a CEO and se Who am I? What am I doing here? And am I listening? And now and the one other point is this, which is that because of that, you're gonna you're gonna be faced with these kinds of challenges by your employees. You better have a repositories for that that you can then process that most organizations don't. And that's why we created our office of ethical use. Because, like for example in an example of a custom and border patrol. When our employees say, Well, should we be doing business with this organization? Or should we not? Then we can say, Oh well, here we can actually talk Thio custom the this talking with that chief ethical use and let them be the arbitrator. So how would that have been? Tell us how this works. I mean, you say you had a bunch of employees who came to you. They said we should stop doing business with Customs and Border Patrol. You said I don't agree. No, I didn't say that. I said I would say I would never say sister thing. I think of your CEO and you say that you are in big trouble. I don't agree. I I this I that you know what I said was what I am an expert in this all of a sudden. Somehow this is now also something that I have todo accepted that not only do I have to do all these other things, I never have the boys this No, that is, you know, But you kind of lead the way and not the job of the CEO. That's a CEO yourself. You know that's not the job of CEO, because the jobless CEOs then d'oh creative process in the structure that lets it auto resolve. And you know, we'll do whatever we need to do. And for example, yeah. So how do we hired Um uh, Paula? Who's going to speak? I think later today. And her job is she's a phenomenal person in this, a world renowned expert in this area. And then she sets up an organization, and those employees could go and they could be fully vetted. And in some cases, there will be action. In some cases, there is a democracy. Do you taken employees vote? How did she What? It's her process to decide whether you're gonna have to ask her. I guess that's what you have been on stage, Alan. But you know what? It is the CEO. If you can't do that. Well, one of the things that got you know where we have an amazing thing. We have what we have. Ah, incredible product line some that we've built organically, some in organically and won. A amazing inorganic acquisition we bought several years ago now is demand where which is now our commerce cloud and we sell a huge amount online like Adidas. You know, we're selling lots of Adidas shoes and everybody wants access this commerce cloud technology because you can just in Craddick Lei increase the velocity of your sales and it's got artificial intelligence are seals First Einstein built into its next generation. It is built into our customer 360. It works with all of our other products. So we have a lot of gun sellers coming to us saying We want to sell guns and we're not opposed to selling guns. And then we had bump stock sellers coming to us. We want to sell bump stocks. Then we had our employees who are in the commerce crowd see that and come to Paul and say, Paula, we can't do that. Why not? Well, they said, should we be doing this? Is this ethical like, how do we look? And through, you know, our own resolution study evaluation in mitigation with other experts outside voices inside voices, we decided we're not gonna sell bump stocks. That's not something that sales force is going to dio and, um but I'm not going to make that decision. I don't think I can. I think I have. I think it's better for the company if this is actually a professionally because, by the way, it's not just that there is a list okay of things that employees want evaluated right and not my company, I'm sure in your organization, in every organization. But if you do not make those changes, then you cannot say if business is the greatest platform for change and you're gonna focus on these changes, you can't focus on everything and you can't do every guy I make. You're not gonna take on every cause and whatever you do have to kind of have a North Star, and it better be around a structured process to make that happen. And that's why I think an office of ethical use. We might be the first ones and technology to do that, but we will not be the last. Just as we were the first voting technology officer, I think it's just technology or think. I think it's much bigger than that. You think this is something that has to be adopted across the board? I think this is far bigger. Well, I went through all the biotechnologies. I mean, you talk about the ethical use of the biotechnology is is amazing