How Salesforce Closed the Pay Gap Between Men and Women

In March 2015, when Salesforce’s employee success chief, Cindy Robbins, arrived at my home for one of the regular meetings I host with my senior executives, I could tell that something was a little off. Not only did she seem oddly reserved, even a bit anxious, she’d taken the unusual step of bringing backup, namely another senior woman executive, Leyla Seka.

They sat down and got right to the point. They’d come to tell me they suspected that women employees at Salesforce were being paid less than men for the same work.