How Sheryl Sandberg became a brand

It’s unusual for chief operating officers to become not just the public face of the company they lead, but also A Personal Brand. But that’s exactly what Sheryl Sandberg did in her 14 years at Facebook, now Meta.

How Sandberg evolved from a little-known, midlevel exec at Google to the leader of a movement has everything to do with the way Facebook itself was structured when she joined the company in 2008. Mark Zuckerberg was focused on the product, and Sandberg was tasked with everything else.

“He’s a very unusual CEO, and so her ability to do what she has done in branding herself from a COO position is in part also reflective of the unusual nature of that company and the fact that she was almost completely responsible for making it profitable,” Rutgers Business School professor Nancy DiTomaso told me.

Before TikTok there were TED talks, and in 2010 Sandberg went viral with her professional advice for women: Lean in, not back. The talk was a jumping off point for the bestselling “Lean In,” which launched discussion groups around the world. While Sandberg had a platform due to her role at Facebook, her work there wasn’t why people were suddenly paying attention.

“There are very few women who achieve that kind of brand strictly because of their corporate roles,” DiTomaso said. “It’s almost always because they have been responsive to or taken it upon themselves to speak out on issues that go beyond their corporate roles.”

There are also very few chief operating officers who captivate mainstream audiences by virtue of the position. The CEO is the public face of the company, and the COO handles internal operations. Zuckerberg made clear that that’s how his new COO, Javier Olivan, will work.

Other star COOs have been influential within their respective industries. Salesforce’s Bret Taylor catapulted from COO to co-CEO within a few years; taking the stage at Dreamforce with Marc Benioff was a clear sign of his ascent. Tim Cook was Steve Jobs’ behind-the-scenes heir apparent as Apple’s COO, forced into the spotlight as Jobs’ health declined. But few operational execs ever achieve the mainstream name recognition that Sheryl Sandberg gained without also getting the CEO title.

And while “Lean In” was flawed — it’s easier to claim a seat at the table when you’re wealthy and have a supportive partner at home — as were Sandberg’s later years at Meta, which were riddled with scandals, management experts say she deserves credit for shining a light on the challenges women face in the workplace.

“The issues that Sandberg put on the table are extremely important and have had an impact, even if there are limitations to it and even if she hasn’t always made the right decisions in regard to other aspects of her life,” DiTomaso said.

Her legacy is now more complicated, but Sandberg was influential as both a COO and as A Brand. Now it’s time for the next generation of women business leaders to take over. The question for them is whether they can pull a Sandberg and get recognition without the CEO title, or whether they’ll need to forge their own path all the way to the top.

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