Sheryl Sandberg
Tech's most influential COO who reshaped discourse on women's careers and resilience through Lean In and Option B
Sheryl Sandberg (1969-) was born in Washington D.C., holds a BA in Economics from Harvard and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she was mentored by Lawrence Summers. She served as Chief of Staff to the Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration, then joined Google as VP of Global Online Sales and Operations. She joined Facebook as COO in 2008, helping transform it from a social networking site into the world's largest digital advertising platform, with annual revenue growing from $700 million to over $70 billion. In 2013, she published Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, which became one of the world's best-selling business books, sparking global discussion about workplace gender equality and leading to the founding of the Lean In organization. After her husband Dave Goldberg's sudden death in 2015, she transformed her grief into Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy (2017), proposing a systematic framework for resilience. She left Facebook (Meta) in 2022 to focus on philanthropy.
Methodologies
- Lean In Workplace Advancement Method - Identify internal self-limitations, proactively seek opportunities, and sit at the table even when feeling underprepared
- Option B Resilience Rebuilding Method - Rebuild resilience and meaning in adversity by kicking the three Ps (personalization, pervasiveness, permanence)
Key decisions and timeline
- Born in Washington D.C. - Family educational values are important shaping forces for career ambitions
- Graduated from Harvard, Mentored by Lawrence Summers - Building deep relationships with influential mentors early in one's career is an important lever for career acceleration
- Became Chief of Staff to Clinton Treasury Secretary - Senior executive experience in non-commercial fields is often an important complement to commercial leadership
Beliefs and mental models
- Belief 1 - Sandberg observed that women often voluntarily retreat in meeting rooms, sitting in chairs beside the table rather than at it. She believed women need to overcome internal self-limitation, proactively claiming the right to participate and speak rather than waiting to be invited.
- Belief 2 - Sandberg believed that for career women, choosing a partner who genuinely supports their career development is more important than any professional skill. A partner who equally shares domestic responsibilities is the most critical infrastructure for women's career advancement.
- Belief 3 - After her husband's death, Sandberg found that resilience is not an innate personality trait but a capacity that can be actively built through specific practices (such as gratitude journaling, finding meaning, accepting help). The Option B framework transforms resilience from a mysterious quality into a learnable skill.
- Model 1
- Model 2
- Model 3