![]() "I don't think they understand Ohana," Benioff told Insider. To Benioff, who's 58, nothing has changed at Salesforce, regardless of what some employees say. "You're not going to fire your family during times of need," a former Salesforce executive told Insider. "Should we consider retiring the phrase 'Ohana?'" one employee asked in an internal Slack channel viewed by Insider when Benioff announced layoff plans in January. These days, there are fewer references to "Ohana" and "compassionate capitalism," and more to "performance-based culture." Within Salesforce, Benioff riffs are at times met with backlash from an angry workforce. Taking Ohana, the Hawaiian word for family, as his mantra, Benioff fashioned himself as the benevolent CEO who treated employees and customers "the way we would treat our closest relatives," as he wrote in his 2019 memoir "Trailblazer." The Salesforce promise was that it was possible to run a hugely profitable business while also "giving back" to the community with its philanthropy. Interviews with dozens of current and recent Salesforce executives and employees offered an intimate lens into this difficult 18-month period and what it has meant for Salesforce and its larger-than-life CEO.įor Benioff, who could once use phrases like "business nirvana" without eliciting too much push-back, the downturn brought certain criticisms to center stage.įor more than 20 years, Benioff has grown Salesforce from startup to global software giant, all while minting himself as a celebrity-like ambassador of "compassionate capitalism" - as he titled his 2004 book. "If it hasn't been a master class in the last six months on how to manage for all stakeholders, then I've made a mistake, because that's what I've been trying to do," Benioff said in the second of two lengthy interviews with Insider. ![]() Asked about his stewardship of Salesforce during this rocky period, he gave himself high marks. Now, Benioff appears to be righting the ship as far as investors are concerned - averting a proxy battle, and making progress on improving its profit margins by posting 22.5% for the most recent year and a goal of 27% this year. In January, Salesforce began layoffs of 10% of its workforce. Activist investors entered the picture, pushing drastic cost-cutting measures. Salesforce missed internal sales goals, according to documents viewed by Insider. Benioff's co-CEO, Taylor, resigned after a "showdown," kicking off an executive exodus. Then came the downturn, and everything changed. He cut in with the occasional "Benioff riff," as his monologues about corporate values were known, perhaps name-dropping his friends in Metallica or how he'd meditated with the Dalai Lama. After Taylor's promotion, he joined the occasional all-hands meeting from his home office in Hawaii, where 12 ukuleles made up his video call background. Benioff tapped his lieutenant, Bret Taylor, as co-CEO in November. With success like this, it looked as if Benioff could step back. ![]() Among those in attendance was Stewart Butterfield, who had just handed over Slack for a staggering $27.7 billion. That August, Salesforce brought dozens of executives to Hawaii, an annual tradition where Benioff was known to greet executives in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops and hand out $10,000 Cartier watches. He boasted that Salesforce had become the fastest-growing software company of all time. Its stock was at record levels and Benioff was projecting that annual revenue would double to $50 billion in five years. In late 2021, it looked as if Salesforce had reached what Marc Benioff might call "business nirvana."Ĭovid had launched Salesforce into the stratosphere as demand for its cloud-based software boomed. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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