Inclusion Unlocked

6Purpose

Don't be focused on what other people think of you. They are distracted and dazzled by the externals. Commit to your inner purpose. This will give you strength and your life meaning.

Epictetus

Long before he became the CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff was a wildly successful tech executive, but he was still struggling internally with his purpose. On a sabbatical, he met renowned Hindu guru and humanitarian Mata Amritanandamayi,¹ who told him, “In your quest to change the world, don't forget to do something for somebody else.” Her callout sparked Benioff to realize, “I didn't have to make a choice between doing business and doing good. I could do both.” He has used his personal purpose to shape Salesforce which from its inception has pledged to give 1% of its equity to charitable causes. The company benefits too, as philanthropy is a top two reason in the list of reasons given when asked why people join and top three in the list of reasons given when asked why they stay. Benioff is a champion of inclusion at work righting the US$4.1 million gender pay gap and publicly being willing to end business in states that pass LGBTQIA+ discriminatory legislation. He believes CEOs need to stand up for everybody because “we're just in a new world where we all have to take a level of responsibility.”²

Since you're reading this book, you're at least intrigued by having inclusion as part of your purpose as a leader, but let's step back to the fundamentals of purpose first. A person's ...