In this article we address the profile of CEO Sheryl Sandberg and how Facebook, she and Leaning In went through so many obstacles in history that they later found success.
The executive knew how to exercise female power in all its splendor. A journey through her interesting career!
A CEO who was part of TED Talks
At the beginning, Sheryl Sandberg’s worldview was clear and simple. At the end of her now famous 2010 TED talk on the topic of female leadership, she said what she wanted was a world in which women ran 50% of companies and 50% of countries.
“I want my daughter to have the option not only to succeed,” Sandberg said, “but to be liked for her accomplishments.”
For a few years, Lean In—the life and career philosophy that Sandberg would go on to detail in a 2013 book—seemed poised to help women push through their own personal glass ceilings on the corporate ladder.
With it, Sandberg built a progressive reputation that fit perfectly with the one she was forging for Facebook, known for being a magnet for prodigies and a force for connection and overcoming differences.
Now Sandberg is leaving Facebook after 14 years of tenure, most of which she served as its second most famous executive. And yet, her own path there may be the most forceful indictment against the principles of Lean In (and there were already many).
It took a pandemic and a prolonged political crisis to prove what her critics had said from the beginning: a feminism focused solely on putting women in power through their own self-efficacy will not change the power balance between men and women nor make the world a more just and equal place.
Sandberg became Chief Operating Officer to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2008, when the founder was only 23 years old.
Facebook was a young company, already a sensation, but known mainly for connecting college students. And its mission was still wrapped in the auspices of providing a unique social good, a mechanism of human connection enabled by technological advances and the great vision of its founder.
But it needed to make money. As Zuckerberg said when announcing the hire, “Sheryl understands Facebook’s goal of connecting all the people in the world and is passionate about building a business that allows us to make this mission a reality.”
At that time, Facebook had about 500 employees and 100 million users. Barack Obama was about to win the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton and was preparing to begin his campaign against Republican John McCain with a message of hope and change. And the Great Recession was just a few months away.
Former McKinsey consultant and Google executive, and disciple of Harvard economist Larry Summers—whom she worked for both at the World Bank and at the U.S. Treasury—Sandberg was an ideal partner in Zuckerberg’s liberal technocratic dream.
At the beginning, Sheryl Sandberg’s worldview was clear and simple. At the end of her now famous 2010 TED talk on the topic of female leadership, she said what she wanted was a world in which women ran 50% of companies and 50% of countries. “I want my daughter to have the option not only to succeed,” Sandberg said, “but to be liked for her accomplishments.”
For a few years, Lean In—the life and career philosophy that Sandberg would go on to detail in a 2013 book—seemed poised to help women push through their own personal glass ceilings on the corporate ladder. It also served to improve Sandberg’s progressive reputation, which matched well with the one she was building for Facebook, known for being a magnet for prodigies and a force for connection and overcoming differences.
Now Sandberg is leaving Facebook after 14 years of tenure, most of which she served as its second most famous executive. And yet, her own track record there may be the most forceful indictment against the principles of Lean In (and there were already many).
As Zuckerberg said when announcing the hire, “Sheryl understands Facebook’s goal of connecting all the people in the world and is passionate about building a business that allows us to make this mission a reality.”
At that time, Facebook had about 500 employees and 100 million users. Barack Obama was about to win the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton and was preparing to begin his campaign against Republican John McCain with a message of hope and change. And the Great Recession was just a few months away.
Former McKinsey consultant and Google executive, and disciple of Harvard economist Larry Summers—whom she worked for both at the World Bank and at the U.S. Treasury—Sandberg was an ideal partner in Zuckerberg’s liberal technocratic dream.