{"id":19458,"date":"2018-06-15T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=19458"},"modified":"2020-09-18T00:36:27","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T00:36:27","slug":"in-a-new-york-times-interview-marc-benioff-shares-his-views-on-the-role-of-companies-and-ceos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/news\/stories\/in-a-new-york-times-interview-marc-benioff-shares-his-views-on-the-role-of-companies-and-ceos\/","title":{"rendered":"In a New York Times Interview, Marc Benioff Shares his Views on the Role of Companies and CEOs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThis idea that somebody put into our heads \u2014 that companies are somehow these kind of individuated units that are separate from society and don\u2019t have to be paying attention to the communities they\u2019re in \u2014 that is incorrect,\u201d said Salesforce Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff in a New York Times interview with David Gelles. \u201cWe need to have a more enlightened view about the role of companies.\u201d<\/p><p> Gelles asked Benioff how Salesforce imbues employees with its core values and culture. \u201cOn their first day of work, we take everyone and we show them the kitchen and the bathroom and their office and their desk,\u201d he said. \u201cThen we take them out and they do service in the afternoon. They\u2019ll go to a homeless shelter or they\u2019ll go to the hospital or go to a public school. This is a very core part of our culture.\u201d<\/p><p>In response to a reader question, Benioff shared his view of modern companies and their responsibilities. \u201cThere\u2019s a shift going on,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I went to U.S.C., it was all about maximizing value for shareholders. But we\u2019re moving into a world of stakeholders. It\u2019s not just about shareholders. Your employees are stakeholders, so are your customers, your partners, the communities that you\u2019re in, the homeless that are nearby, your public schools. A company like ours can\u2019t be successful in an unsuccessful economy or in an unsuccessful environment or where the school system doesn\u2019t work. We have to take responsibility for all of those things.\u201d<\/p><p>The interview, conducted at Salesforce headquarters in San Francisco, also delves into Salesforce\u2019s social innovation efforts in the city, and work to improve the lives of the homeless. \u201cWe have a plan to get every homeless family off the streets within five years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot delegate these complex problems off to the government and say, \u2018We\u2019re not all part of it.\u201d<\/p><p>Read the interview:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/06\/15\/business\/marc-benioff-salesforce-corner-office.html\"> Marc Benioff of Salesforce: \u2018Are We Not All Connected?\u2019<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThis idea that somebody put into our heads \u2014 that companies are somehow these kind of individuated units that are separate from society and don\u2019t have to be paying attention to the communities they\u2019re in \u2014 that is incorrect,\u201d said Salesforce Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff in a New York Times interview with David Gelles. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":19459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sf_subhead":"","sf_i18n_disclaimer":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"alternateThumbnailId":0,"sf_product_cta_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"sf_content_type":[1735],"sf_theme":[1914],"sf_topic":[1763,1733],"sf_product":[],"sf_industry":[],"sf_role":[],"sf_multimedia_asset":[],"sf_location":[1724],"sf_collection":[],"sf_visibility":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-19458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","sf_content_type-news-highlights","sf_theme-business-as-a-platform-for-change","sf_topic-innovation","sf_topic-stakeholder-capitalism","sf_location-amer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In a New York Times Interview, Marc Benioff Shares his Views on the Role of Companies and CEOs - 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