real impact on the world.
With its three distinct chapters—product, equity, people—
Pledge 1% is a great framework for corporate leaders who do
not yet have any experience in corporate social responsibility. It
demonstrates, as DiBianca has said, that “your technology, your
products, and your time are just as valuable as the dollars you
can give away.”7 Often, heads of companies do not know where
to start, which cause to choose, with which social partners to
associate, and which funding method to use. When a company
decides to adopt the 1–1–1 model, a member of the founda-
tion contacts its management. The foundation guides the com-
pany, provides advice, gives tools, offers resources, and shares
best practices. It connects new members with firms that have
already successfully implemented the program. A community of
Pledge 1% companies has thus emerged. There are now more
than 5,000 around the world that have joined the movement. By
exporting Salesforce’s disruptive social purpose model, Benioff
and DiBianca have given new energy to corporate philanthropy,
198
THANK YOU FOR DISRUPTING
allowing it to expand to unheard-of levels. Thousands of benefi-
ciaries are able to testify of its success.
In this way, the private sector comes to the rescue of the
public sector. As we know, it has become common these days to
point out the helplessness of state authorities. They are burdened
by debt, their leaders are focused on the short term, and their
actions are restricted by their national borders. Meanwhile, the
stakes themselves are borderless, global. For their part, NGOs,
whose cumulative action is considerable, are sorely lacking in the
means to scale up their philanthropic actions. In such a context,
the contribution of business is vital. We now refer to Capitalism
2.0, a world where the very first question that you would ask
about a company would be about the contribution it makes to
society at large.
For Polman, Faber, and Benioff, we have reached a point of
no return. They have demonstrated their unwavering commit-
ment, but they are not blind to the fact that their efforts have
limits. They know that while the business world’s commitment
is essential, business alone cannot solve the planet’s problems.
That’s why they believe it has become imperative for all change
agents to unite, be they international institutions, governments,
companies, foundations, NGOs, or social businesses. Only if
they act in concert, will they be able to start to really repair the
world.
To conclude this part, I submit a remark made by Ban
Ki-moon, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations:
“We are the first generation that can put an end to poverty and
we are the last generation that can put an end to climate change.”8
It is a heavy responsibility. We owe it to our children not to
fail. And the world of business has an undeniably important role
to play. As we’ve seen, this is in its best interest, and in the long
Marc Benioff and Suzanne DiBianca
199
term even vital for its survival. It is therefore promising to see
that more and more chief executives are becoming convinced.
They consider philanthropy as a sound business practice. They
see altruism as a way to create value. They believe that social
purpose is a factor for growth.
Conclusion
Disruption Ahead
The period we live in is full of peril, but also full of great
promise. It is a time in which thousands of inventions are
just waiting to be discovered. The prospects are immense.
Bioscience will allow us to live longer, artificial intelligence to
multiply our creativity, renewable energy to meet the climate
challenge. The condition is that we must learn how to master
them. As is often the case in our history, there is concomitance
between the appearance of a problem and the emergence of a
solution. The Internet was born exactly when the world needed
it. Data is now revolutionizing the future of healthcare. One
day soon, we may find a way to extract greenhouse-gas emis-
sions from the atmosphere on a major scale. We have entered a
fecund period at all levels.
But this promise will not be realized automatically. To con-
struct our collective future, broad change is vital. We must
innovate in all directions. We will need to employ great imag-
ination, and to think and act creatively. For each one of us, for
the companies we work for, and for the world we live in, we will
need disruption—everyday and everywhere.
This is why I wanted to celebrate all those men and women
who have most impressed me with their disruptive leadership. It
is encouraging to know that behind these great leaders, there are
great companies. And that inside them, there is a real desire to
201
202
THANK YOU FOR DISRUPTING
transform things. This change can be accomplished by inventing
as-yet-unheard-of solutions. By disrupting. It will be for the
better, and give the word disruption the true meaning we intend
it to have, a positive one.
So, to all those mentioned here, allow me to say again, Thank
you for disrupting. I expect that in the coming years they will be
joined by many other disruptive entrepreneurs, businessmen and
businesswomen, or everyday citizens. People who will bring us
radically innovative approaches, and help us take on the issues
facing our world.
I also believe in the ability of each individual to be disruptive,
imaginative, and entrepreneurial. We must—and this is one of
the great challenges of our time—become capable of liberating
the creative potential that lies within each of us.
As Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Whatever our activity, whatever our level of influence in the
place where we work, it is up to us to not shy away, not leave
to others the collective responsibility of making change hap-
pen. Each of us should, to the measure of his or her possibilities,
become personally invested.
All of us must give life to, and let grow, what inside of us is
most disruptive.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Pamela Tamby, my assistant of more than
10 years, and Nicholas Baum, a business partner and long-
time friend. They worked tirelessly back and forth between the
English and French versions of this book. At the end of the day,
they had a great influence, not only on its form, but also on the
content. Without them, this book would not be what it is.
My appreciation goes to Troy Ruhanen, Denis Streiff, Elaine
Stein, Guillaume Pannaud, Nicolas Bordas, Jean-Marie Prénaud,
Jean-David Sichel, Vincent Garel, Antoine Lesec, and Kou Yang
for their unwavering support.
I would like to especially thank Christina Verigan for the
quality of her work and for her invaluable contribution.
/> Last, but not least, I would also like to express my gratitude
to Richard Narramore, my editor at John Wiley & Sons, for his
advice, and his colleagues—Jocelyn Kwiatkowski, Peter Knox,
Vicki Adang, and Victoria Anllo—for their precious help in
preparing the book and its launch.
203
Notes
Introduction: Thank You for Disrupting
1. Upbin, Bruce (September 18, 2012), “Talking Philanthropy
with Marc Benioff.” Forbes.
2. Conversation with Zhang Ruimin by Knowledge@Wharton.
“For Haier’s Zhang Ruimin, success means creating the
future.” Retrieved from knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu,
April 20, 2018.
Chapter 1: Steve Jobs
1. The Telegraph. (October 7, 2011). “Steve Jobs leaves behind
product legacy that will last for years,” Telegraph.
2. Balakrishnan, Anita (October 3, 2016). “Why Apple CEO
Tim Cook doesn’t ask, ‘What would Steve Jobs do?”
CNBC.com.
3. Stabiner, Karen (1993). Inventing Desire: Inside Chiat/
Day: The Hottest Shop, the Coolest Players, the Big Business of
Advertising. New York: Simon & Schuster.
205
206 NOTES
4. 1984 Apple Inc. Super Bowl commercial. Video available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDzGr80KSY (accessed
on January 10, 2019).
5. Carr, Austin (March 2017). “11-16 Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi,
BBK Electronics, Huawei, Dalian Wanda for ramping up
the pace for the world,” Fast Company, issue 213, 48.
6. Gibson, Rowan (2015). The Four Lenses of Innovation: A Power
Tool for Creative Thinking. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
7. Cheney, Steve (August 18, 2013). “1980: Steve Jobs on
Hardware Software Convergence,” SteveCheney.com.
Available at http://stevecheney.com/1980-steve-jobs-on-
hardware-software-convergence (accessed December 17,
2018).
8. Gapper, John (January 11, 2017). “Steve Jobs’ legacy is the
omniscient tech company,” Financial Times.
9. Brown, Tim and Roger Martin (September 2015). “Design
for Action. How to use design thinking to make great things
actually happen,” Harvard Business Review 93(09), 57–64.
10. Cohen, Peter (May 22, 2015). “Saying no to 1,000 things,”
iMore.com. Available at: https://www.imore.com/saying-
no-1000-things (accessed December 17, 2018).
11. Jobs, Steve (May 25, 1998) in an interview to Bloomberg
BusinessWeek.
12. Steve Jobs’ Commencement Address at Standford University
(June 12, 2005). Available at https://news.stanford.edu/2005/
06/14/jobs-061505/ (accessed December 17, 2018).
13. DNews (October 12, 2011). “Steve Jobs: Dents in the
Universe.” https://www.seeker.com/steve-jobs-dents-in-the-
universe-1765465298.html (accessed December 17, 2018).
14. Sculley, John (Bloomberg TV, October 14, 2010). Quoted
in a documentary series “Bloomberg Game Changers: Steve
Jobs.”
Notes
207
Chapter 2: Jeff Bezos
1. Bezos, Jeff (April 18, 2018). “2017 Letter to Shareholders.”
Available at https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/
2017-letter-to-shareholders (accessed December 18, 2018).
2. Hyken, Shep (July 22, 2018). “Amazon: The most convenient
store on the planet,” Forbes.com.
3. Bezos, Jeff (April 17, 2017). “2016 Letter to Shareholders.”
Available at https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/
2016-letter-to-shareholders (accessed December 18, 2018).
4. D’Onfro, Jillian (December 2, 2014). “Jeff Bezos: Why it
won’t matter if the Fire Phone flops,” BusinessInsider.com.
5. Kim, Eugene (May 28, 2016). “How Amazon CEO Jeff
Bezos has inspired people to change the way they think
about failure,” BusinessInsider.com.
6. Ibid.
7. Lashinsky, Adam (November 16, 2012). “Amazon’s Jeff
Bezos: the ultimate disrupter,” Fortune website.
8. Salter, Chuck (February 6, 2009). “Kindle 2 preview: Jeff
Bezos on why Amazon works backwards,” Fast Company
website.
9. McKendrick, Joe (February 13, 2016). “Prediction: every
business will be a Cloud or digital platform provider, soon,”
Forbes.com Accenture 2016 Technology Vision report
available at https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-digital-
platform-economy.
10. Jeff Immelt’s interview with Huijgen, Annelot and Ivan
Letessier (June 15, 2016). “General Electric à l’offensive
dans l’Internet industriel,” Le Figaro.
11. Rosoff, Matt (October 12, 2011). “Jeff Bezos ‘makes
ordinary control freaks look like stoned hippies,’ says former
engineer,” BusinessInsider.com.
208 NOTES
12. Helmore, Edward (July 23, 2018). “Trumps calls Washington
Post ‘expensive lobbyist’, reigniting war with Bezos,”
Guardian.
13. Pompeo, Joe (June 21, 2018). “‘When your owner is
richer than god, it’s easier to get uppity’: discontent at
The Washington Post as the union targets Jeff Bezos,”
Vanity Fair.
Chapter 3: Herb Kelleher
1. Gallo, Carmine (September 10, 2013). “How Southwest
and Virgin America win by putting people before profit,”
Forbes.com.
2. Kelleher, Herb (November 30, 2012). “I am American
business: Herb Kelleher,” CNBC.com. Interview available
at https://www.cnbc.com/id/100000634.
3. Weber, Julie (December 02, 2015). “How Southwest
Airlines hires such dedicated people,” Harvard Business
Review website.
4. Brown, Joel (January 13, 2016). “30 intelligent Herb Kelleher
quotes,” Addicted2Success.com.
5. Trammell, Joel (2014). The CEO Tightrope: How to Master
the Balancing Act of a Successful CEO. Texas: Greenleaf Book
Group Press.
6. Carbonara, Peter (August 31, 1996). “Hire for attitude, train
for skill,” Fast Company.
7. Rohac, Dalibor (April 24, 2013). “Conspicuous frugality: is
cheap the new cool,” TheUmlaut.com. Available at https://
theumlaut.com/conspicuous-frugality-is-cheap-the-new-
cool-1225b9fe314 (accessed December 18, 2018).
8. Yann Le Galès (June 18, 2018). “Jean-Michel Guillon,
Michelin: ‘nous développons la responsabilisation,’” Le Figaro.
Notes
209
9. McCarthy, Niall (May 2, 2018). “America’s best large
employers [Infographic],” Forbes.com.
10. Bellemare, Carole (June 12, 2018). “Jean-Michel Guillon,
chez Michelin, consacré ‘DRH de l’année 2018,’” Le Figaro.
11. Pasha, Riz (n.d.). “117 greatest Peter Drucker quotes of all
time,” SucceedFeed.com. Available at https://succeedfeed.com/
greatest-peter-drucker-quotes (accessed December 18, 2018).
12. Lucier, Chuck (June 2004). “Herb Kelleher: the thought
leader interview,” Strategy+Business, issue 35.
13. Ignatius, Adi (March–April 2017). “We need people to lean
into the future,” Harvard Business Review.
Chapter 4: Bernar
d Arnault
1. LVMH 2017 Annual Report (March 2018). Available at
https://r.lvmh-static.com/uploads/2018/03/lvmh_ra_2017-
va.pdf.
2. Messarovitch, Yves and Bernard Arnault. (November 2000).
Bernard Arnault. La passion créative, Paris: Plon, 67.
3. Bellemare, Carole and Caroline Beyer. (January 19, 2008).
“Bernard Arnault, meilleur patron du luxe,” Le Figaro.
4. Fox, Nick (August 12, 2011). “Think BR: 100 years of
Bernbach—a creative revolution,” CampaignLive.co.uk.
Chapter 5: Zhang Ruimin
1. Landler, Mark (July 23, 2000). “In China, a management
Maverick builds a brand,” New York Times.
2. Hinssen, Peter (March 2, 2017). “Innovating on the edge of
chaos—getting to Haier Ground,” Forbes.com.
210 NOTES
3. Fischer, Bill, Umberto Lago, and Liu Fang (2013).
Reinventing Giants: How Chinese Global Competitor Haier Has
Changed the Way Big Companies Transform. Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley & Sons, 225.
4. Conversation with Zhang Ruimin. “For Haier’s Zhang
Ruimin, success means creating the future,” Knowledge@
Wharton. Retrieved from knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu,
April 20, 2018.
5. Fischer, Lago, and Fang. Reinventing Giants, 83.
6. Peter F. Drucker (2006). Classic Drucker: Essential Wisdom of
Peter Drucker from the Pages of Harvard Business Review. New
York: Harvard Business Review Press, 57.
7. Fischer, Bill, Umberto Lago, and Liu Fang (April 27, 2015).
“The Haier road to growth,” Strategy-Business.com.
8. Fischer, Lago, and Fang. Reinventing Giants, 63.
9. Cai, Peter (January 30, 2015). “Chinese innovation and the
Haier model,” The Australian.
10. Stengel, Jim (November 13, 2012). “Wisdom from the
Oracle of Qingdao,” Forbes.com.
Chapter 6: Jack Ma
1. Russell, Jon and Liao, Rita (November 2018). “Single’s
Day: China’s $25 billion shopping festival explained,”
TechCrunch.
2. Katz, David J. (November 11, 2018). “$1 billion in sales
in 85 seconds,” DavidJKatz.com. Available on David
J. Katz—The Alchemist blog at https://davidjkatz.com/2018
/11/11/1-billion-in-85-seconds/ (accessed on December 19,
2018).
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