From Shareholders to Stakeholders

I’ve become more interested in Salesforce, not necessarily for what it’s in business for, but in how it does business. Some things it does:

• Audits payroll to ensure gender and racial pay equality
• Pledge 1% — a program to donate at least 1% of its revenue, products, and employee time toward charitable work
• Supports LGBT rights by removing Salesforce events from states that pass anti-gay legislation
• Compared the effects of social media to those of tobacco and alcohol

While no business and no CEO has it all figured out, I appreciate all that Marc Benioff tries. Here’s his take on whether companies have a responsibility to contribute to the public good:

“There’s a shift going on. When I went to U.S.C., it was all about maximizing value for shareholders. But we’re moving into a world of stakeholders. It’s not just about shareholders. Your employees are stakeholders, so are your customers, your partners, the communities that you’re in, the homeless that are nearby, your public schools. A company like ours can’t be successful in an unsuccessful economy or in an unsuccessful environment or where the school system doesn’t work. We have to take responsibility for all of those things.”