Sandberg’s farewell note recognises India’s Self Employed Women’s Association

Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook’s parent company Meta, has announced that she will leave the organisation after 14 years. In a post announcing her exit, she looked back on her journey with Facebook and reflected on the power of social media, citing India as one example.

“Just last month, I heard about how in India, the Self Employed Women’s Association connects over WhatsApp to organize and increase their collective bargaining power,” Sheryl Sandberg added. “I’ve loved traveling the world (physically and virtually) to meet small business owners and hear their stories.”

Sandberg also recalled her first meeting with Mark Zuckerberg, that eventually led to her joining Facebook.

The executive said she met Zuckerberg at party and they struck up a conversation about his vision for Facebook.

“Mark’s belief that people would put their real selves online to connect with other people was so mesmerizing that we stood by that door and talked for the rest of the night,” she added.

Many months after the meeting, Zuckerberg offered Sandberg a job. She revealed that she asked him for three things while joining Facebook.

“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,” Sandberg added. “Mark said yes to all three but added that the feedback would have to be mutual. 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.”

Sandberg said the job was chaotic at first.

“I would schedule a meeting with an engineer for nine o’clock only to find that they would not show up,” she said. “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.”

Sandberg also reflected on the how she and Zuckerberg stuck together through all difficulties. “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 added.

Zuckerberg said he was thankful to have Sandberg as his “lifelong friend”

” 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. I’m going to miss working alongside you every day,” he added. Moneycontrol