cubicle culture, facebook, mark zuckerberg, sheryl sandberg

New COO Sheryl Sandberg turns Facebook corporate

If time flies when you're having fun, the inverse is true as well. Ex-Googler Sheryl Sandberg joined Facebook as COO only two weeks ago and "It feels like she's been here six months already," one Facebook exec told the Wall Street Journal. Sandberg has introduced employee performance reviews, new recruitment procedures, and management-training programs. Suddenly, the place sounds a lot less fun for its 550 employees than it did when Lesley Stahl from 60 Minutes visited Mark Zuckerberg at the offices last fall. It may be good news for Facebook's investors, though.

Last fall wasn't a particularly good time for the company. Facebook Beacon made all the headlines, but stories of Facebook employees snooping around and defacing user profiles made it clear the company needed an adult in charge. Now it has one. Sandberg, who calls herself a "tough-love leader," knows her new corporate mentality will kill what some Facebook employees love about the company. Minions under her charge at Google certainly chafed under her leadership.

But this isn't about the whiners in the engineering quad. Sandberg is trying to make them rich, not happy. "Scaling up is hard and it's not as much fun not to know everyone you work with," she told employees, many of whom themselves own shares in the company. "But if we get to work on things that affect hundreds of millions of people instead of tens of millions, that's a trade-off worth making."

10:40 AM on Mon Apr 14 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
2,433 views
7 comments

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sggrf at 11:22 AM on 04/14/08
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I don't think they'll like her very much.
Wdeal at 12:16 PM on 04/14/08
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Zuckerberg says in the WSJ piece "Sheryl and I both believe in building a company that helps people stay connected and makes a positive change in the world."

First, I need to vomit after that winner.

Next, beware working for, or long-term investments in, any organization who's CEO fails to mention "profitability" as a primary goal in building a business.
Goog_Diddy at 01:44 PM on 04/14/08
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I worked with her at Google and have several good friends at Fbook. I hear that they are finding out what those of us that worked with her closely at Google experienced; that she is all talk and self promotion and networking, but little to no action. Case in point on the WSJ piece. Ask any senior Googler who worked with her. Glad Fbook took her off of our hands.
Fidel on the Roof at 02:15 PM on 04/14/08
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@Wdeal:
"Next, beware working for, or long-term investments in, any organization who's CEO fails to mention "profitability" as a primary goal in building a business."

But then he would be on record of lying... again.

Not that I give a rat's ass for the investors... but they had better diversify their portfolio...

Invest in:

1) an emoticon manufacturer with a 50% R&D budget and vertical supply chain
2) monetize [www.subservientchicken.com]
3) mahalo + hamsterdance mashup
4) rickshaw tour company of Palo Alto
5) consultant company making up random valuations for clients
6) buy TeenBop magazine for the worldwide Kirk Cameron photo rights [www.chinaexpat.com]
newzealand1 at 03:14 PM on 04/14/08
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i've had the pleasure of working with sheryl at googler and i was a lot further down the food chain than she was.....and she was AWESOME.
always professional, always sincere, always honest and genuine.
you can't blame her for bigger issues at GOOG- one person can't change everything...everything involves teams, and team decisions, and so nothing is ever just one person's fault.
she also made time to meet with all the new hires every week or so and really told us what was up (summed up what she learned from getting a harvard mba in one sentence...:)
stop hating on sheryl.
she was one of the GOOD guys at GOOG and it's totally their loss.
she's also a great mom and friend.
Nicholas Carlson at 04:19 PM on 04/14/08
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Connectedness Index: 221
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@Goog_Diddy: I'd like to hear more. Shoot me an email.
microserfin at 10:29 AM on 04/15/08
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I picture Zuck getting schooled daily on how shit this company actually is.
Death to you Baitbook!!!