You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve.
Marc Benioff
The world is being re-shaped by the convergence of social, mobile, cloud, big data, community and other powerful forces. The combination of these technologies unlocks an incredible opportunity to connect everything together in a new way and is dramatically transforming the way we live and work.
The only constant in the technology industry is change.
If someone asks me what cloud computing is, I try not to get bogged down with definitions. I tell them that, simply put, cloud computing is a better way to run your business.
Presentation skills are key. People who work for you represent your brand. You want them to present themselves - and represent you - in a certain way.
Technology's always taken jobs out of the system, and what you hope is that technology's going to put those jobs back in, too. That's what we call productivity.
In business, we say that people overestimate what you can do in a year and underestimate what you can do in a decade. This is true in philanthropy as well.
The bigger and more successful Salesforce becomes, the more we'll invest in our public schools, the more we will invest in homeless, the more we will invest in public hospitals, the more we will invest into NGOs.
What part of media doesn't need to connect with their customers more smartly?
It's not so unusual for me to have a week of meetings that includes not only my employees, not only my customers, not only media, but could also include principals of local K-12 schools; it could include non-governmental organizations or nonprofit organizations or members of the community.
I strongly believe the business of a business is to improve the world.
I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I started my own software company in high school and went to college to study entrepreneurship.
The whole concept of data science is that the software becomes the expert, and you, as the average user, are able to understand what's going on.
There are a lot of politicians who are just obstructionists.
Although I loved working on technology - I've always been a computer geek at heart - my professors encouraged me to get a real-world job working with customers.
You look to Google, you see this incredible world of information, you see the advertising, but you also get Google Analytics. And Google Analytics coupled with Salesforce's sales and service and marketing means that both of our customers are going to have customer insights that they've never had before. That is really exciting.
You can do things in every part of the world. You can do things in every discipline. You can do large things, you can do small things. But it takes a while to figure out what you actually want to do. And it changes. As you change your interests and desires in philanthropy change, I think you have to be open to that change.
Most of all, I discovered that in order to succeed with a product you must truly get to know your customers and build something for them.
The best way that I can give my best advice is not to be encumbered with any job with any administration.
Technology is a continuum. It's constantly getting lower-cost and easier to use, and you see that, and that's true with our company.
A lot was happening in A.I. But I also realized it wasn't clear what Salesforce's role in A.I. was. That's when we started acquiring quite a few artificial intelligence companies, maybe a dozen.
We need a new generation of executives who understand how to manage and lead through data. And we also need a new generation of employees who are able to help us organize and structure our businesses around that data.
I mentor a lot of CEOs and entrepreneurs, and when I see that product is the number-one thing, the only thing that matters, that's a real red flag.
I want to remind everyone that we have a no alcohol policy at Salesforce. Alcohol is a drug, and having alcohol on a Salesforce premise is simply unfair to the Ohana who either do not want it or are intolerant of it.
I like to be in locations that I kind of feel are very creative, that stimulate me in a creative process.
I think the most surprising thing about giving is it takes a while to find out what you're really interested in and what you really want to do.
In school all I wanted to do was build technology. That's what I loved.
My approach to politics is that I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I'm an American and I always support candidates I think are great for the country.
I love software and I love technology.
I think everybody understands mobility because everybody's got a cellphone and lots of apps and seen how they've moved off of PCs and onto mobility.
The antidote to inequality is equality. The question is how do you achieve equality? I believe that, for business, which is where I can speak, we have to shift from shareholder maximization to stakeholder maximization.
Nothing is more important, certainly during these times of artificial intelligence, than our public education. And as it continues to grow and evolve, I think you and I know this is going to be critical that we are constantly training and retraining and creating these next-generation jobs.
The future of communicating with customers rests in engaging with them through every possible channel: phone, e-mail, chat, Web, and social networks. Customers are discussing a company's products and brand in real time. Companies need to join the conversation.
I have failed a lot in my philanthropy, where I will make philanthropic contributions and they just won't be effective.
When I look at the next set of technologies that we have to build in Salesforce, it's all data-science-based technology. We don't need more cloud. We don't need more mobile. We don't need more social. We need more data science.
Journalists immediately think of me as a resource for a quote or comment because they know that I will be available to offer fresh insight and meet their deadlines.
Learning how to interact with customers is something that anyone starting any business must master. It's an amazing opportunity to be able to learn the ropes at an established company and then employ your expertise at your own company.
Businesses cannot be extricated or disintermediated from the communities they serve. Businesses who do that will do that at their own peril. They will draw fire. And companies who are integrated will be lauded by their communities and not draw fire.
I think everybody understands how important the cloud is.
We need to make sure we do more job retraining, and that's why we're working to have a 5-million-apprenticeship dream.
This idea that we can take hundreds of thousands, which we've done so far, and scale it to millions and move them into a new workforce, this is really critical because Salesforce is a platform.
When I get something in my head, it's hard for me to just let it go.
I couldn't imagine a more incompetent politician than myself.
I think a lot of people don't understand how deep AI already is in so many things.
