Billionaire tech titan Marc Benioff, the founder of enterprise software giant Salesforce (CRM), believes that business is "the greatest platform for change" and that CEOs no longer have the option of not taking a stand on society’s toughest issues.

"I try to model for other CEOs how to actually use their business as a platform for change, how to improve the state of the world with their companies," Benioff told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview, which touched on a broad range of topics. He spoke this week on the sidelines of Dreamforce, the annual tech conference hosted by Salesforce, in San Francisco.

This fall, Benioff published his fourth book called "Trailblazer," which he says gives "tools and guidance and know-how to move forward."

In the interview, he lamented the lack “role modeling” for CEOs to show leadership beyond just the bottom line. “And we have to give them the permission, the psychological permission, that it's OK to act this way. They don't have to just be about shareholder returns. They can do more," he added.

Benioff has declared that capitalism as we know it "is dead," and he's making a case for a new type of capitalism that's fairer, more equitable, and takes all stakeholders into account.

Salesforce integrated philanthropy from inception, which made Benioff argue that it's "never too late" for companies to adopt a new paradigm of stakeholder capitalism.

"[I] think that this is about keeping everything we had, have a shareholder return. Salesforce has had a great shareholder return — 3,500% since we went public in 2004. But we've also had a great stakeholder return," he said.

With that said, Benioff insisted that “you can have a great shareholder return and a great stakeholder return. And if you manage that way, you're going to have a better company, stronger values."

How Salesforce gives back

When he started Salesforce in 1999, he knew he wanted to build "a different kind of company." Integrating philanthropy became a critical part of the company's mission — primarily with its 1-1-1 model, where the company donates 1% of its equity, product, and employee time to charity.

Since that time, Salesforce has grown from a small startup run next to Benioff's old San Francisco apartment, to a global technology leader. It’s also one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies in the world with a market cap greater than $140 billion.

Under 1-1-1, Salesforce has given $300 million in grants, more than 4 million hours in volunteer time. It has given more than 40,000 nonprofits and nongovernmental entities access to its products for free or at steep discounts.