Chief Operating Officer of Facebook (Meta) from 2008 to 2022, Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most influential women in Silicon Valley. Author of *Lean In* (2013), she is a prominent advocate for women's leadership in the corporate world.
Sheryl Sandberg(1969 — ?)
Sheryl Sandberg
États-Unis
9 min read
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.»
« What would you do if you weren't afraid?»
Key Facts
- 1969: Born in Washington D.C.
- 2001–2008: Vice President of Global Sales at Google
- 2008: Appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Facebook
- 2013: Publication of *Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead*
- 2012: First woman elected to Facebook's board of directors
Works & Achievements
A global bestseller translated into more than thirty languages, this book encourages women to assert themselves in their careers and sparked an international debate on female leadership, the glass ceiling, and the sharing of domestic responsibilities.
Co-written with psychologist Adam Grant following the sudden death of her husband, this book explores resilience in the face of grief and adversity, weaving personal testimony with research in positive psychology.
The defining achievement of her tenure as COO: Sandberg transformed Facebook into an advertising machine generating tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue, making Meta one of the most valuable companies in the world.
A nonprofit organization that runs thousands of peer support circles for professional women in 170 countries, providing resources, training, and mentorship to develop female leadership.
A landmark talk viewed more than ten million times, which laid the groundwork for the ideas developed in *Lean In* and established Sandberg as a global voice for corporate feminism.
Anecdotes
In 2010, Sheryl Sandberg took the TED stage and delivered a talk titled 'Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders' to an audience of professionals. She encouraged women to 'sit at the table' during meetings rather than hanging back. This talk, viewed tens of millions of times, foreshadowed the book 'Lean In' and sparked a global debate about women's place in positions of power.
When Mark Zuckerberg offered her a position at Facebook in 2007, the company had barely a few hundred employees. Sandberg, then a vice president at Google, negotiated hard before accepting. Her mission was to invent a profitable advertising model for the social network: in less than four years, Facebook became one of the most powerful advertising platforms in the world.
In May 2015, her husband Dave Goldberg died suddenly of a cardiac arrest while on vacation in Mexico. Sheryl Sandberg, devastated, wrote a moving post on Facebook a few weeks later about grief and resilience that was read by millions of people. This personal testimony gave rise to the book 'Option B', co-written with psychologist Adam Grant, about how to overcome adversity.
Having graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in economics in 1991, Sheryl Sandberg had written her thesis on the economic consequences of domestic violence. This topic, considered unconventional for a future business leader, already reflected her deep interest in social issues. Larry Summers, her thesis advisor who later became U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, then hired her as his chief of staff in Washington.
When 'Lean In' was published in 2013, Sandberg was criticized by some feminists who argued she was only speaking to already privileged, highly educated women. She would later acknowledge that her initial message had not adequately addressed the structural barriers tied to race and class. This controversy fueled an essential debate about the limits of 'corporate feminism'.
Primary Sources
In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders. I hope that day is soon. Until that day, I want every little girl who is told she is bossy to be told instead that she has leadership skills.
We need to start talking about this. We need to start talking about the messages we send our daughters, the messages we send our sons, the way we talk about ambition in women, the way we value women's leadership.
We plant the seeds of resilience in the ways we process negative events. After my husband died, I had to learn to kick the ball again. Option A is not available. So let's kick the hell out of Option B.
Done is better than perfect. Trying and failing is far better than not trying at all. The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.
I have lived thirty years in these thirty days. I am thirty years sadder. I feel like I am thirty years wiser. I have gained a more profound understanding of what it means to be a mother.
Key Places
Sheryl Sandberg's birthplace and the site of her first major professional role at the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Clinton administration.
Sandberg completed all of her higher education here — a BA in economics followed by an MBA at Harvard Business School — where she shaped her views on economics and leadership and met her most formative mentors.
Google's headquarters, where Sandberg worked from 2001 to 2008 as Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations, building expertise in digital advertising that would prove decisive in her later role at Facebook.
The headquarters of Facebook, later Meta, where Sandberg served as COO from 2008 to 2022 and built one of the most powerful — and most controversial — advertising models in the history of the internet.
The iconic heartland of the American tech industry, Silicon Valley is the ecosystem in which Sandberg established herself as one of the rare women to reach the highest executive ranks of the digital giants.
Typical Objects
The central tools of her life as a hyperconnected executive, Sandberg managed hundreds of emails a day and ran Facebook's global operations from her screens, often starting as early as five in the morning.
A symbol of her commitment to women's leadership, this book — sold over four million copies worldwide — became a go-to reference in management training and feminist business circles.
Sandberg is known for her structured presentations and efficient meetings; the whiteboard represents her work method, built on clear objectives and fast decision-making.
Known for her meticulous time management, she scheduled every day down to the minute, carving out fixed slots for family dinner — a discipline she openly championed as a way to balance professional and personal life.
Having become one of the most sought-after speakers in the world, the podium is the symbolic object of her influence: universities, economic forums, US government meetings — her voice has reached every major global stage.
As COO, Sandberg was directly responsible for the company's financial results; the quarterly shareholder reports represent the core of her executive work and the exponential growth of advertising revenue during her tenure.
School Curriculum
Vocabulary & Tags
Key Vocabulary
Tags
Daily Life
Morning
Sheryl Sandberg wakes up very early, often around five in the morning, to check her emails and get ready before her children are up. She places great importance on the family breakfast ritual, which she sees as a grounding moment in her day before diving into the whirlwind of meetings and strategic decisions.
Afternoon
Her afternoons are filled with team meetings, advertising performance reviews, and calls with business partners or political leaders around the world. Known for her rigor and organizational skills, she favors short meetings with clear agendas, prioritizing efficiency over length.
Evening
Sandberg has publicly championed the practice of leaving the office at 5:30 p.m. to have dinner with her children — a habit she maintained for years despite her level of responsibility. Her evenings are devoted to family life, reading, and personal reflection: a balance she describes as a deliberate choice, not a professional weakness.
Food
Sandberg follows a health-conscious diet in line with the habits of California's leadership class: fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and few processed foods. Like many Silicon Valley executives, she adapts her eating to a packed schedule, often squeezing quick but balanced meals between meetings.
Clothing
In business meetings and public appearances, Sandberg favors a polished but understated style: a tailored suit or structured blazer over a shirt, in neutral or dark tones. Her put-together look deliberately contrasts with the casual t-shirt-and-jeans culture embraced by most male tech leaders in Silicon Valley — a choice that highlights how women are judged differently on their appearance in the workplace.
Housing
Sheryl Sandberg lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, in an affluent residential neighborhood in Silicon Valley. Her home, which she describes first and foremost as a family household, embodies the tension she explores in her writing: being both a global executive and a present mother in a region with one of the highest costs of living in the world.
Historical Timeline
Period Vocabulary
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
2013
Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy
2017
Construction du modèle publicitaire de Facebook
2008-2022
Fondation de la Lean In Foundation
2013
TED Talk 'Why we have too few women leaders'
2010
