Like a playground for professionals, its offices have been designed to maximize creativity and collaboration. Think: rooftop gardens, a DJ booth and a yoga studio.
But since he took over Twitter last year, Elon Musk transformed his people first culture into his own »extremely hardcorea workplace where a massively lean workforce is called upon to work “long hours at high intensity”.
Musk’s approach to leadership has been heavily criticized, of course, but far from everyone dismisses it out of hand. Many global tech leaders have studied Musk’s experience to learn lessons, and in a new interview, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff emerged as one of the most unexpected tech executives watching. and learned – and maybe feel a little jealous.
Like Twitter, Salesforce plans to “run lean and mean”
“Every CEO in Silicon Valley has looked at what Elon Musk has done and thought, ‘Do they have to unleash their own Elon inside of them?'” Benioff told the insider.
“It’s an existential question whether you’re an executive type in the business,” Benioff said. “You have to look at him and say, ‘Wow, that’s a very unorthodox management style,’ but, like I said, you can’t underestimate what he’s done.”
This is a far cry from Benioff’s previous statements that Salesforce is one big family with the Hawaiian word”Ohanaat the center of its corporate philosophy.
Earlier this year, Salesforce laid off about 8,000 employees amid global economic headwinds.
At the time, Benioff said, “I would like to offer a job for life. But the reality is that when you have a large company with 80,000 employees, there will be times when you need to make a headcount adjustment.
The layoffs at Salesforce were mirrored across the tech industry, with Meta and Google communicate the cuts in an equally sorry way.
But it looks like Benioff has backtracked on that soft stance and is now taking inspiration from Musk’s method.
According to Insider, Salesforce’s latest draft business plan includes boosting profit margins by more than 30% by capping headcount growth, reducing general and administrative expenses, sales and marketing expenses, and reducing the ‘real estate.
“Run lean and mean” and “spend like it’s yours” are some of the harsh words of wisdom the document dictates to employees.
The success of Salesforce in the fourth quarter
Benioff’s Musk-Inspired Efficiency Approach Seems to Work, with Salesforce Reporting good quarterly results Wednesday, which exceeded expectations.
The software giant’s revenue soared 14% to $8.38 billion and it doubled its share buyback to $20 billion.
The results were greeted by a cautiously optimistic response from Elliot Management, one of several activist investors that had previously lobbied management to improve profit margins and cash flow.
The investment firm, which manages more than $55 billion in assets, said the results “represent progress towards restoring investor confidence.”
“Accelerating margin targets, committing to responsible capital return priorities, establishing a business transformation committee and disbanding the M&A committee are necessary steps,” a statement read“but there is still a lot of work to do”.
“Salesforce needs a sustainable leadership plan and a board that demonstrates it can deliver accountability through proper oversight,” he added.
Since co-founding Salesforce in 1999, Benioff insists he’s tackled similar economic turbulence, citing the initiated changes he implemented during the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009.
But he remains optimistic that, unlike Musk’s new dawn on Twitter, doubling Salesforce’s productivity won’t impact his “Ohana” culture.
“Now we have to make slight adjustments,” he said. “And that doesn’t mean our culture changes, it just means we have to run a business. This business is a business, but business can be the best platform for change. »
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