Ducks in a Row: Marc Benioff on How to Run a Company
by Miki Saxon
By any measure Mark Benioff runs a successful, highly profitable company.
Moreover, he runs one of the most socially responsible companies in the world.
This BI interview with Benioff captures in a short read how Salesforce is a perfect example of a founder who incorporated his values into his company.
His socially conscious approach began when he launched Salesforce as a startup; long before it was profitable.
I view that as a critical part of my business. That’s why when I started Salesforce, on day 1, we put 1% of our equity, 1% of our product, and 1% of our time into Salesforce.org.
Where other CEOs talk, wring their hands and use media time to bemoan the problems, Benioff fixes them.
Gender pay disparity is a good example.
When he saw proof that women were being paid less he made changes to eliminate the disparity and did it without whining or handwringing.
Two women, one our head of HR and one who ran our women’s group said, “Hey, we’re paying women less than men at Salesforce.” I didn’t believe it at the time, when we actually looked at the information we were actually paying women $3 million less than we were paying men for the same amount of work, and so we made an adjustment to how we pay women.
When asked how other companies handle the issue he furnished not only the how, but also the why it doesn’t happen.
Every company has an HR system, every company knows their salaries, that’s obviously how they pay people, and all a CEO has to do is push a button and look at, “Do I pay women the same as men?” Most CEOs are afraid to push that button.
Furthermore, Benioff sees an attitude from a few academics in the 1970s as responsible for much of today’s inequality, — in short, he doesn’t believe that that a company’s primary purpose is to maximize shareholder value.
I believe that for business, which is where I can speak, we have to shift from shareholder maximization to stakeholder maximization.
Salesforce has been ranked as one of the top innovative companies year after year for a very simple reason.
They can’t look to me for all the answers. I don’t have them, and that’s not our culture. They are coming to me with their ideas and their visions. It’s not my role to be the only visionary in town.
All in all, Marc Benioff is a superb role model, whether your company is large, small or just starting up.
Flickr image credit: TechCrunch
