HBRs 10 Must Reads On Collaboration

Abstract

WATCHING HIS EMPLOYEES use a new social technology, Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, had an epiphany. His company had developed Chatter, a Facebook-inspired application for companies that allows users to keep track of their colleagues and customers and share information and ideas. The employees had been trying it out internally, not just within their own work groups but across the entire organization. As Benioff read the Chatter posts, he realized that many of the people who had critical customer knowledge and were adding the most value were not even known to the management team. The view into top management from the rank and file was just as obscure, Benioff knew. For instance, the company’s annual management off-site was coming up, and he could tell from talking to employees that they wondered about what went on behind closed doors at that gathering. “They imagined we were dressing up in robes and chanting,” he says.