
Salesforce encouraged employees to buy and expense Benioff's book to boost sales - Reedx
https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-marc-benioff-trailblazer-employees-expense-2020-1
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benjaminjosephw
I've nearly finished reading this and I have to say that it's one of the most
out-of-touch business books I've ever read. Benioff sells Salesforce as an
modern, socially responsible and generous organisation. He's not wrong,
Salesforce is admirable in many ways but it's not as unique and different as
it's sold as. The book sets Salesforce up as a pioneer in being a socially
responsible but highly profitable business; in doing so, it's self-promotion
draws attention to the fact that it's actually not all that radical or
different to many other modern enterprise companies.

Benioff has lost perspective. He was once the pioneer of a new way of doing
business and challenging the status-quo. What he's failed to see is that
Salesforce has become the lumbering giant it once set out to slay.

One hilarious anecdote in a chapter on "innovation" describes how Benioff
realises that the company must adopt AI technology to stay competitive. He
gathers a group of engineers to work out how to "infuse AI into every product
in our portfolio" because they "didn't want to be late to the revolution". I
have a lot of respect for Benioff and his company which was once a massive
trailblazer of the industry. I'm not sure it's quite got the edge to still
claim that title.

