Marc Benioff’s ‘Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change’ is a salute to people with the willingness to experiment and push for a better world of work
In the startup world, Salesforce and its chief executive, Mark Benioff, are inspiring examples of how to create, build and scale a company. The US-based company moved customer relationship management solutions to the cloud, became a leader in software as a service (SaaS), went public, and revolutionized the way companies do business—all in 20 years. It’s inspired Indian SaaS startups such as Freshdesk and Zoho. But Benioff and Salesforce are also for commitment to certain business values.
In his book, Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change, co-authored with Salesforce executive vice-president Monica Langley, Benioff explains how values are the bedrock to building not just a resilient business model but also a resilient business culture. “No business will succeed in the future until it embraces the notion that values create value," he writes.
Principles will matter not because being responsible corporate citizens is the right thing to do but because consumers will demand it. The name of the book itself is taken from the term the company uses for people who master the software and implement it in their own companies. “Even if they don’t work for us, these practitioners are cherished members of our team. They are some of the greatest innovaters and evangelists," he writes. “Not just for our products but for our culture." It’s a salute to people with the willingness to experiment and push for a better world of work.
