A masterclass in Leadership from Sheryl Sandberg
I think Sheryl Sandberg’s this series of emails to Google’s Jonathan Rosenberg was an exemplary leadership move. Please read the emails first. Then go over this article on my hypothesis.
8 pages of emails. https://www.threads.net/@techemails/post/C8AkP_3yl77
A Lead is a small piece of string that you pull before something far more massive comes following it. Literally and figuratively. In a way this is a guide to what’s coming next. Carefully controlling what follows with the ‘lead’ can be used to make the next set of states, predictable.
In this case, this entire interaction was seemingly started by Rosenberg, but the seed was sowed, I imagine, much earlier — by Sandberg with their (FB) purposeful defiance of SteveJobs™ -esque hegemony over silicon valley with non-poaching ‘agreement’ with most big tech. Facebook was a newcomer and of course Google had to assert dominance. That’s just business. Sandberg wanted the war to quickly start and end because in 2008, FB would either be a success or fizzle out. Signing noncompete with google is a surefire way to lose outright.
My hypothesis is, Sandberg started this all along. Rosenberg interestingly chose a personal approach to this whole situation which Sandberg seems like entirely anticipated and quickly turned it into a it’s not a you vs me . but about the future of both companies and added that she knows and hasn’t forgotten what happened to Palo alto office space feud.
Interesting thing to note here is how she made this about Google v Facebook — and not Rosenberg v Sandberg and subsequently got the immediate moral high ground.
After all this back and forth, she took another masterstroke on this by ending the conversation on her own terms, and subsequently giving her and the team more time to strategise on the next bit.
All of these are nuggets of some fine political mastery Sandberg was hired for from Washington. She dominated a male ego riddled west wing in DC and got the better of the career-political elite before. Silicon valley C suit isn’t anything new to Sandberg.
The leadership move here is about controlling the narrative to fight a war herself but behind a bigger, noble-sounding cause — the future of tech hiring and competition in the world.
A lesser person would make it personal. This was a personal fight alright, but Sandberg’s leadership move was to bring the weight of a noble cause.
Just like a little lead of string may lead to something far more massive, she played the situation from a simple factual premise towards revolutionising hiring in tech.
I remembered (and looked up to be sure) a quote by TS. Elliot.
“Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm — but the harm does not interest them. / Or they do not see it, or they justify it / Because they are absorbed in the endless struggle / To think well of themselves.”
Sheryl Sandberg mastered this trait about human nature and that is why she could be that little pice of string lead which brought (and won) the war.
To me, that’s leadership.