Marc Benioff on v2mom

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Much has been written about Marc Benioff and the incredible company he created. It almost seems ridiculous to try and pick one lesson I learned from him. Many journalists have pointed to the contributions he made to SaaS, cloud computing, disruptive marketing, compassionate capitalism, appstores, customer success...the list could go on and on. But for the sake of argument, I think the greatest gift he made to me and thousands of other people and institutions was the concept of V2MOM. Confused? Just google the term; you'll see that many organizations have adopted this framework to help them accomplish great things.

V2MOM is an acronym that stands for Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles and Measures. It's a deceptively simple organizational framework that helps people  build and document aspirational strategic plans. And for companies of all sizes, it is a powerful way to drive organization alignment around a common vision and priorities from the CEO and cascading all the way down to the base of the corporate pyramid.

(For context, if you want to learn more about the V2MOM or how to write your own, I have posted a small primer here, and there's a lot you can find on the Internet.)

Back to the story. So the lore goes, Marc wrote the first V2MOM on the back of a Fedex envelope. Since then at the beginning of every calendar year, he would assemble his leadership team to hash-out and create the annual V2MOM for Salesforce.com. When his V2MOM (the company V2MOM) was done, he would present it at the all company kickoff, and starting from his direct reports and downwards, every person in the company would write their own personal V2MOM, reviewing with their manager and ensuring that it aligned with the overall vision of the company for that year.

I remember so many of those V2MOMs. Each of them was different based upon the circumstances, the markets, the trends, the internal or external existential threats of the time. One year we might be thinking about the recession and the Right Solution for Right Now. Another time, we might have market headwinds and it might be about the Path to the Billion Dollar Software Company. Each time it was inspiring, bold and empowering.

And every year since then, I've written my own personal V2MOMs or guided teams or companies on how to use it as a tool for change within their organizations. You can read my current one by going here. I'm sharing this because the V2MOM can be a powerful tool both for companies and for individuals too.

Thanks Marc!