A disappointing start to Dreamforce

I wrote last week I am excited about Salesforce's verticals and that I planned to watch many of the industry sessions scheduled at Dreamforce today. However, last year's CEO Marc Benioff's keynote did a really nice job showcasing customer case studies - I shared this post with several other vendors asking them to use as a guide for their own customer stories. So, I was hoping for a redux and set aside a couple of hours to listen to this year's opening keynote - here is a replay.

Marc and his team did profile a couple of customers - State Farm Insurance and Louis Vuitton. However, the focus was more product-centric and rushed. Just did not have, at least for me,  the same impact last year's format did.

Worse, there was a protest which interrupted the session. I have been reading Marc's new book, Trailblazer, and while I admire the positions he has taken on LGBTQ issues, gender pay equality and homelessness among others I have been wondering if that just attracts more causes which clamor for his and the company's attention. I got my answer during his keynote. CNBC reports

"A man standing near the stage started reading from a piece of paper, criticizing Salesforce’s contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

 “Okay, we’re going to let you talk for 30 seconds,” Benioff said to the man. “But, however, at the end of the 30 seconds, you have to agree that you’re going to leave. Do you agree?”"

A giant digital timer on the screen then began ticking down. “We’re going to put the clock up. You have 28 seconds left,” Benioff said."

"Minutes later, another protester started shouting, but the comments were inaudible.

“We’ve heard from your group, and we will [be] happy to have a further conversation with you,” Benioff said. “We gave you your time. We will continue to give you other opportunities to speak. Thank you very much.”

I thought Marc handled the protesters very well and even scored points when he said he supported free speech. But with the timer and a security lady in the picture you got the distinct sense that Salesforce was prepared for this and even bigger protests outside Moscone. Honestly, I was filled with dread - what next?

I had hoped Benioff would do his fireside chat with Tim Cook of Apple as part of the keynote. It was actually later in the day when I had a conflict. Instead, the stream had a fireside chat with Anand Giridharadas, Editor-at-Large for TIME. His focus was what he calls "Voluntary Virtue" - the faux concern he thinks the wealthy show in solving societal issues like inequality. He talked about his book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. He was particularly tough on Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase. (btw I am a Chase customer and personally think their customer service sucks but I thought Anand was unfair to Jamie). More than anything as an editor of a leading magazine I wish he had been balanced. Instead he focused on the two ends of the wealth bell curve and ignored our still-substantial middle class. I tweeted him after the session

By now, I was distracted with calls and had the Dreamforce feed in background. I did see bits of pieces of two sessions which both focused on AI and ethical issues. 

I am approaching the decade milestone of The New Polymath. In that book, I had laid out many thorny technology-led ethical issues. I had interviewed lawyers, academics and analysts on these issues including Dr. Herman Tavani, professor of computer ethics at Rivier College. I had observed

"Clearly, this walking encyclopedia on cyberethics is not being leveraged enough by technology practitioners and future business leaders. (Professor James Moor at Dartmouth also confirmed he is not often consulted by technology vendors.)

In the last few years I have seen it flip. We are proactively worrying about potential ethical issues around AI and autonomous cars when they are years from becoming mainstream. As one panelist observed " AI is like teenage sex: everyone says they’re doing it, but no one actually knows what it is." Exactly, but we still seem to spend hours fretting about potentially biased algorithms, not about the productivity and payback from these new technologies. In contrast, long festering ethical issues I had laid out in my book are still being ignored.  

Look, Dreamforce has always been a "different' conference. It is a Tony Robbins type rah -rah, scream your throat hoarse event. You run into will.i.am and Deepak Chopra and Colin Powell and Richard Branson and who knows who else here.

But at the end of the day, I shuddered that a certain line may have been crossed at Dreamforce. I go out of my way to avoid political media, and in this sanctuary of a tech and innovation event, I should feel sheltered from that.    

I just hope today's vertical sessions focus much more on innovative customers and products. Yes, feel free to call me boring.