The Opportunity
A newly formed Salesforce business unit serving small business customers needed stronger alignment among its senior leadership team. The team operated in a fast-moving environment and needed to collaborate effectively while influencing colleagues across the organization.
The aim was to strengthen trust within the team, build resilience, sharpen customer focus, and develop clearer ways of working together.
The Journey
Following discovery conversations with key team members, Emerging World designed a three-day experience structured around three themes: purpose, customer and adaptation. The team worked with purpose-driven small businesses on real challenges affecting their organizations.
Participants explored these challenges together using a structured questioning process (Action Learning) that encouraged listening and reflection before proposing solutions.
Engaging directly with small business leaders helped participants understand customer realities. The process also encouraged curiosity and a beginner’s mindset — slowing the pace just enough for participants to question assumptions, explore different perspectives and surface more honest dialogue. As participants collaborated externally, they also built trust and strengthened the relationships within their own team.
The Transformation
The experience strengthened trust and psychological safety within the leadership team.
Participants reported more open conversations and greater willingness to challenge and support one another. The team became clearer on the right problems to solve and worked together more effectively, especially under pressure.
These shifts translated directly into their customer work — reinforcing that trust takes time, simplicity requires discipline, and meaningful support begins by asking better questions.
As Marie Rosecrans, SVP, Salesforce Essentials and SMB, reflected:
“Emerging World’s immersive learning approach helped us to identify ways in which we could work more effectively to achieve success and ultimately brought our team closer together. This is helping us to drive change and impact in our area of work and the experience is something that team members still talk about months later.”
