Marc Benioff
He’s the CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based Salesforce, one of the world’s largest software companies, which owns the popular messaging service Slack and is worth nearly $300 billion. He also owns Time magazine.
When I ask Benioff about the properties in the anonymous LLCs, things seem to take a turn. He starts speaking more quickly and fidgets with a piece of paper in his hand. He’s reluctant to go through the holdings, and his adviser on the Zoom call jumps in to say we can discuss later.
A couple of days before the interview, Benioff texted the same NPR colleague again, asking for intel on my story. Then he called me and demanded to know the title of this piece. During that call, he also mentioned he knew the exact area where I was staying. Unnerved, I asked how he knew, and he said, “It’s my job. You have a job and I have a job.” During the interview, he brings up more personal details about me and my family.
I leave the meeting disconcerted and still unclear about what exactly is happening with his land in Waimea.
The following day, I drive around with a photographer to take pictures of the town and Benioff’s projects. We go to the property he described as a community center and are confronted by one of his employees. The photographer explains we’re there to take photos of the outside of the building. Shortly afterward, I get a text from Benioff. His employee seemed to think we were “snooping,” and he says he’s escalating the incident to NPR CEO John Lansing. Lansing confirmed he spoke with Benioff, without going into detail — the NPR newsroom operates independently, and the CEO is not involved in editorial decision-making. Benioff didn’t respond to my question about the purpose of this call.
Yes, I am being lazy because I read books, provide arguments, and get responses like “LOL no u are wrong! Idiot!”
Why would I spend more than 2 minutes replying to that when it’s clear they’ve spent no time thinking through their response and I can easily show they’re wrong?
I get it though, if you don’t have an argument then attack the person for being lazy. Ad hominem attacks are good at changing the topic. But I am still right at end of day.
No because you used chatGPT. The thing I specifically stated that you are skirting around in your response.
If you don’t take the conversation seriously don’t bother having it. And if they are stubborn walk away if they won’t have a conversation in earnest.
Don’t beat your head against the wall and then tell at everyone that they are giving you a headache. You can’t win every conversation. That’s not how they work.