Last week, you may have noticed certain headlines about Marc Benioff, “our” Salesforce CEO. Best summed up in one news article as “Tone deaf MAGA billionaire scorched by own staff for vile ICE comments”
To borrow from Geoffrey Bessereau-Fournier MVP (and Michelle , who articulates the issue better than I, “the CEO of a company asked employees whose visa and residency status is tied to their employment at that company to identify themselves, and then made their immigration status the punchline. In this political climate.”
Did I see this coming? Honestly, no, but there’s been plenty of insider feedback about him, pointing to a power-gone-mad personality for a long time. Was it always there? Who knows? Does it matter? I concentrate on the here and now.
Enough with the grim news. What can we do, particularly when your employer, or someone you are dependent on, deviates too far from your own moral compass?
In the first half of this post I will focus on those closest to the “mothership”: speakers, community group leaders, MVPs. In the second half, for those very much still climbing the ladder, who haven’t yet had those opportunities, there are still quality ideas for you!
I don’t have all the answers, but hopefully there’s some food for thought anyway.
Let’s look at the past
Right, time to eat my own words.
Although I concentrate on the here and now, there are still some lessons to easily learn. When I was young, I didn’t understand why all Jews didn’t leave Nazi Germany, especially after Kristallnacht in 1938. The trouble is there’s always hope that “maybe things will get better”. This is true sometimes, but not always.
More recently, due to Brexit, I finally understood that even if people don’t like what’s happening language barriers, family ties, lack of currently transferable skills, long term plans involving study, available energy, visa restrictions, and money can all hamper travel. I even tried leaving the UK for a while, but eventually decided that the Netherlands could not offer me – on balance – what I needed.
But I reckon we canreduce how tacitly complicit we are. Least worst action, so to speak. Inaction is still a choice.
Inaction
I’m just going to quote Martin Niemöller as someone is bound not to have read him, and he still resonates to this day, sadly.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.
This hits home every time for me – the dangers of inaction. There’s always a reason to be an outsider, no one is exempt.
Fun fact: he actually updated the text for whatever audience he was speaking to, to ensure it resonated.
Doing nothing?
At a minimum we can voice our displeasure. We can work on backup plans (I now have a Dutch passport, back to the Brexit example). In the Salesforce context we can withdraw our voice so that Marc Benioff can’t point to us as supporters, and we can work on our transferable skills.
Matt Pieper recently called out some actions:
- Contact their Board of Directors (don’t hold your breath though)
- Stop using Agentforce and Data stop. Just don’t buy it and don’t use it.
- Boycott – publicly – Salesforce-run events such as TDX, Dreamforce, Connections, World Tours. The press attends these events and attendance drops are embarrassing.
- Organise picket lines outside any of the towers
He’s given me the courage to add one of my own which I was thinking of but hadn’t vocalised:
- Withdraw from the MVP process, whether you’ve been nominated or are already an MVP. One of the criteria is being a role-models – interesting given the CEO’s actions!
Or use that platform to make yourself vocal. But don’t be complicit. There’s no need.
The MVP award is only given at the behest of Salesforce – nominations count, but do not guarantee. They are purely marketing with very little benefit. We own our own experience and network.
n.b. I’m not calling on user group leaders to step down – those people are self-nominated and aren’t at Salesforce’s bequest.
What right?
As I write this, now having mainly left my Salesforce career behind, I wondered to myself what right do I have to suggest this, with my white male privilege? Well here are a few thoughts:
- We are remembered for our actions, not our words.
- The vast majority of us succeed without Salesforce’s blessing. We come to prominence for what we have done and then we might get a nod.
- I effectively passed up the opportunity to be an MVP many years ago. I’ve not publicly spoken about it, but I lodged a formal complaint against a Salesforce member of staff. In doing so, I suspected that I would be blocked from getting the MVP award of which I had a plausible chance. Would I have liked to get that award? Yes. Did I sleep easier having done what I did? Hell yes.
So, if you are an MVP, consider it as a course of action. If you’ve got five years, you can gracefully enter the Hall of Fame if you choose to do so; perhaps even say “not at this moment”; it can always be claimed later. If you’ve not accumulated that total yet, then there’s always time later for any remaining years. You may have obligations so I’m not telling you to do this, but I am suggesting to you to give it consideration.
There are alternative forms of validation as both Vanessa Grant and myself have documented.
Career Options
The takeaway is that you don’t have to stick with it, that there are always options. Some take more effort, or longer to enact than others, but I reckon there is always something.
Within the Salesforce world currently, innovation is tiny, and other toolsets are now perhaps more useful and interesting. There’s still the option of transferable skills – you do have them, even if it is not always immediately apparent. My example: By 2021 when I sensed that the Salesforce nonprofit space wasn’t suitable for me anymore. It would take another two years for me to realise that I could lean into my coaching skills. But I spent that time looking and testing different pathways.
And, in a timely fashion, recently I was a participant in an excellent panel, with some key messages:
- Skills are highly transferable – e.g. problem solving in one arena means you can problem solve in others; or that if you have learnt new things – even once(!) – in the past, this means that you are capable of learning new things in the future
- A successful role needs to come from what gives you joy, and that any role needs to work with your valuesfor it to be healthy and sustainable (if you are neurodivergent at any rate!)
- Money and fear are not the motivators that some would have you believe (this is a link to the excellent Cautionary Tales podcast series)
If we breathe and take a step back you will see that the discussion can all come from a place of growth rather than desperation of “I need a job”, “I need to leave” or “I’m bored”.
Instead pause, and practice the art of saying “what’s possible?”
The discussion was richer than any other career panel I have ever been present at, as an attendee or speaker, I suspect because we were looking at the human angle and intent, rather than just job hunting and career technique.
Huge and grateful thanks to my co-panellists, Ashley Douglas and Kristyna Turner, as they were amazing and full of insights, as well as to aforementioned Vanessa and Pei Mun Lim for organising.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GAtvoq06-M
Concluding thoughts
“You do you” as Glaswegians say. But mindfully.
But also, sometimes you do have to do the hard work to get the reward you want.
I write about neurodivergency matters, with a dash of inclusivity and tech. Subscribe directly to avoid missing out; you can have a nose through my back catalogue. Want even more? You can also follow me on Bluesky and/or LinkedIn.