I don't look at business as a zero-sum game. I don't. I've never seen it play out that way in our industry, and I think you innovate and you add value, deliver value back to customers, and you get value back from the world.
Interpretation
Business can be a collaborative endeavor where value is created and shared, rather than a competition where one party's gain is another's loss.
This quote by Marc Benioff emphasizes a perspective on business that sees it as a space for innovation and value creation rather than a competitive zero-sum game. In his view, businesses succeed by delivering value to customers, which in turn generates value for the business itself, suggesting that collaboration and mutual benefit are key to success in the industry.
In practice
During a conference on entrepreneurship, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of creating value through collaboration.
Once you know what you want and what is important for you to achieve, also define the values associated with it. What is important? That is something a lot of entrepreneurs pass by too quickly. For us, the things that were important were, No. 1, customer success. Nothing is more important to us than making sure every customer is successful in our service.
I strongly believe the business of a business is to improve the world.
The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world.
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.
The only constant in the technology industry is change.
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.
When you are in business for a long time, you go through good times and bad times. When you go through bad times, you learn to control costs, satisfy customers better, satisfy employees better and become more transparent. Therefore, you build character in the company.
Most marketers think there's a concept called a product life cycle. Once you realize that the world is organized by jobs that need to be done, you understand that product life cycles don't exist.
People pitch me all the time. But hopefully, you'll just go ahead and do it. We are trying to eliminate the need for pitches. I'd rather sit there and applaud. Customers buy products, not Powerpoint presentations.
You say: "I'm a blue sky thinker." Investor thinks: "You have no business model, and you don't know how to ship."
The game business reinvents itself every five years.
Customers first, employees second, and shareholders third.
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