During Wednesday's CBS This Morning, the usual slate of hosts -- Charlie Rose, Gayle King, and Norah O'Donnell -- were swooned and captivated by an illustrious billionaire CEO dipping his pen into national politics. No, this businessman is not Donald Trump for once, it was Marc Benioff, current CEO of the international cloud computing giant Salesforce which recently threatened to move its North Carolina offices and assets out of the state unless Governor Pat McCory overturns the Religious Freedom law which was passed in March.
The specific North Carolina bill was described by the Washington Times as:
A new law requires transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate in schools and many public buildings, and the measure excludes sexual orientation and gender identity from statewide anti-discrimination protections. The law was enacted in late March partly to overturn a Charlotte ordinance that would have allowed transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.
During the segment, the hosts of the show applauded Benioff for his progressive stances on issues such as the mythical wage gap between men and women:
GAYLE KING: This is about you, Marc Benioff, you dream big, you think big, your company was named five years in a row by Forbes magazine one of the most admired companies in the world, you're eight feet tall, and so I’m thinking what is it about you that sort of drives your passion to do what you do?
MARC BENIOFF: Well I -what drives
GAYLE KING: In a word.
MARC BENIOFF: Listening. The guy your left there is kinda guru. He said to me once, he said, Marc, if you're going to be successful, then you need to really listen much more deeply than you are.
GAYLE KING: And that's how gender equality came to you.
MARC BENIOFF: That’s also how gender equality came to me because I was having a nice day in my office, and two of our very strong women in our company came in and said, you need to make sure we're being paid the same as men, and we did.
GAYLE KING: Because they weren't.
MARC BENIOFF: Well we did that, we had to make a $3 million adjustments in our salaries, and that is deep listening.
GAYLE KING: We like that
NORAH O’DONNELL: Applause! Applause on that.
The progressive billionaire has captivated many on the left for his style of corporate social activism. By intimidating leaders in state government in Indiana and Georgia, Benioff was able to coerce them into repealing their Religious Freedom laws by threatening to pull out his business.
MARC BENIOFF: We have to be careful. We have to pick what we're going to do carefully. We have to be thoughtful. We can't get into too many things. We have to be very specialized. But that's why we've been successful in Indiana. We've been successful in Georgia, of course. North Carolina still going on, and we're also really working on gender equality with women, pay equality. That's a major –
GAYLE KING: But some people are calling you a bully now Marc, now you're getting the B word leveled at you.
MARC BENIOFF: That’s true and honestly, that surprises me and I'll tell you why. You know, we -- what we're saying to these governors or state senators, hey, if you're going to discriminate against our employees, then we're going to have to reduce our investment, and we're not going to be able to bring as many people, customers, to your state. I’m Sorry to –
CHARLIE ROSE: And some are threatening to take factories out and their assets out.
MARC BENIOFF: Absolutely. And then the -- basically governor will say, well, that's bullying us. It's not bullying us, we're telling you what our employees demand that we tell you and what our customers demand that we tell you which is you have to change your ways. You have to support everyone. And that's what's worked out so well in Indiana, Georgia, and I hope North Carolina.
While Benioff has the right to do with his business as he pleases, there are two concerning trends regarding this situation. Corporate influence in politics is incredibly unpopular with the American people; North Carolina State Senator Josh McKoon told the Wall Street Journal in early May “Marc Benioff is the ringleader for big-business CEOs who use economic threats to exercise more power over public policy than the voters who use the democratic process.” It’s humorous to see how a media that typically goes after businessmen and accuses them of such things as being “partly responsible” for Hurricane Katrina, seems to stand in awe of Benioff when his direct influence in public policy pushes their progressive agenda.
The question comes to mind as to who the media deems favorable to discriminate against? After all, was it funny when a certain comedian targeted conservatives during the 2012 Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day when it was reported the president of the company donated to the Family Research Council? What about Bruce Springsteen who cancelled tour dates in North Carolina out of protest for the Religious Freedom law? Wasn’t that a form of discrimination against people who don’t want to be victims to the Left’s social engineering? It seems tolerance only goes so far as long as you’re goose stepping to the rhythm of social justice. It’s easy to be adored by the media if you’re a billionaire apparently… as long as you know how to effectively discriminate, intimidate, and coerce the right segment of people.
The relevant portions of the transcript from the June 1 segment can be seen below:
CBS This Morning
6/1/16
8:30 SEGMENT
GAYLE KING: The CEO of cloud computing giant Salesforce believes that corporate social activism is not bad for business. Marc Benioff is his name, he runs a company worth $57 billion, that’s with a B. It provides software so salespeople can keep track of their customers. Benioff slammed Indiana's governor last year over a law designed to protect religious freedom. Critics claim it discriminated against the LGBT community. Benioff then canceled Salesforce events, threatened to pull investments, and even offered to pay for workers to move out of state. The law was amended one week later.
CHARLIE ROSE: Benioff then fought a similar bill in Georgia. He warned he would take his business elsewhere. That bill was vetoed. Benioff is now he's fighting North Carolina's so-called “bathroom law.” On Twitter, he recently encouraged people to ask their CEOs to stand against Governor Pat McCrory. Benioff called him anti-gay. Marc Benioff joins us now, welcome.
MARC BENIOFF: Thanks for having me, it’s great to be with you.
ROSE: So the question is for you, why do you do this?
BENIOFF: Well, I'm doing this really on behalf of my employees. I mean, I'm the CEO of Salesforce, as you know, and I'm at my desk, not quite as beautiful as this one and I'm on e-mail, I'll get an e-mail or someone will come in my office and say, I am being discriminated against, and you have to do something for me, and so I will jump in and help them --
CHARLIE ROSE: Does any shareholder, does anybody on your board, does anybody say, Marc, don't do that? Just run the company?
BENIOFF: No, this is the right thing to do. We have to do this. Look, we're moving from a world where it was all about, you know, being shareholders based. We're moving to a world that's all about stakeholders. That's what great CEOs are working on doing. They’re making that transformation.
ROSE: Employees are stakeholders.
BENIOFF: Well Employees are stakeholders, customers are stakeholders-partners, the environment is a stakeholder. Our community, our homeless in San Francisco are stakeholders all for Salesforce. We have to look out for everyone.
KING: But Colin Powell is one of your Salesforce directors and he has said this to you; be careful how far you climb the up that tree. It will expose your backside.
BENIOFF: Right.
KING: What do you make of that?
ROSE: What makes --
BENIOFF: Well that is a director, General Powell, is a director of our company and he did call me and he said, look, the farther you go up the tree, the more your backside is going to be exposed. You better be careful.
KING: That doesn't worry you Marc? That doesn’t worry you?
BENIOFF: Yes when General Powell calls and tells you something, it worries you.
KING: Yeah.
BENIOFF: We have to be careful. We have to pick what we're going to do carefully. We have to be thoughtful. We can't get into too many things. We have to be very specialized. But that's why we've been successful in Indiana. We've been successful in Georgia, of course. North Carolina still going on, and we're also really working on gender equality with women, pay equality. That's a major –
KING: But some people are calling you a bully now Marc, now you're getting the B word leveled at you.
BENIOFF: That’s true and honestly, that surprises me and I'll tell you why. You know, we -- what we're saying to these governors or state senators, hey, if you're going to discriminate against our employees, then we're going to have to reduce our investment, and we're not going to be able to bring as many people, customers, to your state. I’m Sorry to --
ROSE: And some are threatening to take factories out and their assets out.
BENIOFF: Absolutely. And then the -- basically governor will say, well, that's bullying us. It's not bullying us, we're telling you what our employees demand that we tell you and what our customers demand that we tell you which is you have to change your ways. You have to support everyone. And that's what's worked out so well in Indiana, Georgia, and I hope North Carolina.
(…)
KING: This is about you, Marc Benioff, you dream big, you think big, your company was named five years in a row by Forbes magazine one of the most admired companies in the world, you're eight feet tall, and so I’m thinking what is it about you that sort of drives your passion to do what you do?
BENIOFF: Well I -what drives
KING: In a word.
BENIOFF: Listening. The guy your left there is kinda guru. He said to me once, he said, Marc, if you're going to be successful, then you need to really listen much more deeply than you are.
KING: And that's how gender equality came to you.
BENIOFF: That’s also how gender equality came to me because I was having a nice day in my office, and two of our very strong women in our company came in and said, you need to make sure we're being paid the same as men, and we did.
KING: Because they weren't.
BENIOFF: Well we did that, we had to make a $3 million adjustments in our salaries, and that is deep listening.
KING: We like that
NORAH O’DONNELL: Applause! Applause on that.
KING: All from the guru over here.
BENIOFF: He says, you got to listen deeply and put it together and create the poetry. That applies to CEOs. We can get out of that box. When you get out of the listening box, you can get into a very complex situation with your customers, the market, but if you're listening -- and you know, another person who said that is Steve jobs. He was a very deep thinker --
KING: Bravo to you, bravo. Always good to see you.
O’DONNELL: Marc Benioff, thank you so much.
BENIOFF: Thank you.
