Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down from Meta (formerly Facebook) after 14 years at the company. Sandberg was the chief operating officer (COO) at the company and was famously seen as the second-in-command after Zuckerberg. She was responsible for driving many changes in Facebook and its other apps, such as Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. She plans to focus more on her foundation and philanthropic work. Sandberg will officially leave the company by the fall of this year. She will continue to serve on Meta’s board of directors.
Sandberg has penned a long post about her decision to step down on her official Facebook page. In her post, she talks about how she met Mark Zuckerberg at a party, and she ended up talking to him for the rest of the night. Sandberg also recounts how she got a job at then Facebook only after countless “dinners and conversations with Mark.” She admits the job was chaotic, given that Facebook was still a startup at the time.
“I would schedule a meeting with an engineer for nine o’clock only to find that they would not show up. They assumed I meant nine p.m., because who would come to work at nine a.m.? We had some ads, but they were not performing well, and most advertisers I met wanted to take over our homepage like The Incredible Hulk movie had on MySpace,” she wrote.
She also revealed that her late husband Dave told her not to try and resolve every issue with Mark, but instead “set up the right process with him.” So she asked Mark Zuckerberg for three things: “that we would sit next to each other, that he would meet with me one-on-one every week, and that in those meetings he would give me honest feedback when he thought I messed something up. Mark said yes to all three but added that the feedback would have to be mutual.”
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Premium“To this day, he has kept those promises. We still sit together (OK, not through COVID), meet one-on-one every week, and the feedback is immediate and real,” she added.
“In the critical moments of my life, in the highest highs and in the depths of true lows, I have never had to turn to Mark, because he was already there,” she wrote.
She also wrote about how when she joined Facebook, she had “a two-year-old son and a six-month-old daughter,” and she decided to leave office by 5.30 pm as she wanted to be with her children. But at a startup like Facebook, this is not easy. “More out of necessity than bravery, I found my nerve and walked out early anyway. Then, supported by Mark, I found my voice to admit this publicly and then talk about the challenges women face in the workplace. My hope was to make this a bit easier for others and help more women believe they can and should lead,” she wrote.
In her post, Sandberg has also thanked all the people who have worked at Meta with her over the last 14 years. “When I took this job in 2008, I hoped I would be in this role for five years. Fourteen years later, it is time for me to write the next chapter of my life. I am not entirely sure what the future will bring – I have learned no one ever is,” she added.
Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg commented on Sandberg’s post, calling it the end of an era. “In the 14 years we’ve worked together, you’ve architected our ads business, hired great people, forged our management culture, and taught me how to run a company,” he wrote, adding he would miss working alongside her every day.
“Thank you for all you’ve done for me and my family, for our company, and for millions of people around the world. You’re a superstar,” he added.
