Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff spoke about a range of issues during a recent interaction with Economic Times. He talked about Trump Tariffs, how he thinks it is India era, how AI will change business landscape and more. Among the numerous things Benioff also shared about how the idea of starting Salesforce goes back to 1996-97 when he was on a trip to India to meet his Guru Mata Amritanandamayi in Kerala. The CEO of San Francisco-based company with a current market cap of $248 billion, Benioff fondly talked about the same when asked about his "deep connection with India."
"I was on my way to see my guru down in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. I was with her, I was explaining my vision for Salesforce, which was a new technology model and a new business model. And she reminded me, of course, of the importance of giving back, it was very much in that spirit that we have built a different kind of company," said Benioff.
This is not the first time that the Salesforce CEO has spoken about the influence of Mata Amritanandamayi on him. In an interview to UK's Sunday Mail in 2020, Benioff said that she told him, 'In your quest to change the world, don't forget to do something for somebody else.'
Marc Benioff on his first meeting with Mata Amritanandamayi
Benioff said that philanthropy has shaped his beliefs since meeting with Mata Amritanandamayi. "It was like a scene from a movie," the CEO reportedly told the publication. "We're in the middle of nowhere in this tiny Indian village and everybody's dressed in white and orange and there's incense wafting.”
He added, "She looked right at me and said, 'In your quest to change the world, don't forget to do something for somebody else'." Benioff calls this the sum of the life-changing advice which he travelled halfway around the world for and it amounts to: "Be nice to people".
Marc Benioff Shares his experience meeting Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi
"I was on my way to see my guru down in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. I was with her, I was explaining my vision for Salesforce, which was a new technology model and a new business model. And she reminded me, of course, of the importance of giving back, it was very much in that spirit that we have built a different kind of company," said Benioff.
This is not the first time that the Salesforce CEO has spoken about the influence of Mata Amritanandamayi on him. In an interview to UK's Sunday Mail in 2020, Benioff said that she told him, 'In your quest to change the world, don't forget to do something for somebody else.'
Marc Benioff on his first meeting with Mata Amritanandamayi
Benioff said that philanthropy has shaped his beliefs since meeting with Mata Amritanandamayi. "It was like a scene from a movie," the CEO reportedly told the publication. "We're in the middle of nowhere in this tiny Indian village and everybody's dressed in white and orange and there's incense wafting.”
He added, "She looked right at me and said, 'In your quest to change the world, don't forget to do something for somebody else'." Benioff calls this the sum of the life-changing advice which he travelled halfway around the world for and it amounts to: "Be nice to people".
Marc Benioff Shares his experience meeting Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi
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