World Economic Forum Book Club discussion

Today's chapter begins by looking at our author's relationship with Toyota, and with its CEO Akio Toyota. When studying business, Benioff learned all about him and came to admire him deeply. His motto: "There is no best, only better" inspired him to work harder. In 2010, the company had serious issues to face, and had to recall 8 million vehicles. He bowed in apology - a highly significant gesture in Japan.

"Every CEO has to perform a delicate dance between two priorities: trust and growth."

When a crisis that big happens, the CEO "needs to reset the company's values". Trust is the key to success. Toyota famously said "My name is on every car. You have my personal commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers."

Marc Benioff has traveled many times to Japan and has come to love the country. When Salesforce began trying to work with Toyota, he knew he had to come up with an original idea for them to agree. They came up with a sort of "Chatter" for the car - which could tell the owner when a tire is low, where the next gas station is, etc." These things all exist now in most of our cars, but at the time it was groundbreaking and Toyota agreed. They have now become lifelong friends.

Chatter, a product Salesforce launched, made some of our author's colleagues nervous. What if this gave colleagues "a megaphone" to complain? This eventually happened, but Benioff saw this as a fantastic opportunity to listen to his teams and improve issues at his company. When this happened, complaints dropped off.

REMINDER: Post your questions for Marc Benioff in the comments for the video Q&A!