Five years. That’s how long Sheryl Sandberg figured she’d be spending at Facebook, now called Meta, when she took the job as chief operating officer and Mark Zuckerberg’s much-ballyhooed partner in 2008. Enough time to modulate the company’s swaggering culture into something sustainable, build a wildly successful ad business, and set up a policy operation in DC. And to establish herself as an international standard setter for female executives. Then she’d be off—maybe to run for office or to head a giant company like Disney.
But it wasn’t until today, 14 years later, that Sheryl Sandberg has announced she is leaving the company. For an ambitious corporate superstar like Sandberg, 14 years at the same post—and not the top one—is an eternity. Most observers pegged her as leaving some time ago, either forced out by the collapse of the company’s reputation in the wake…
