It sure seems like Sheryl Sandberg lied and tried to cover it up with a statement on Thanksgiving Eve. It's extremely disappointing behavior from anyone in a leadership position as crucial as hers. It's also hard to extricate from her role as the 'Lean In' woman.
I've been reading and thinking a lot about Sandberg's role in all this. There's a lot to discuss re: Zuckerberg's management as well. But as a young professional woman in media/tech who spent time discussing Sandberg's strategies with other women, her role is potent here.
'“‘Lean In’ offered practical advice and research and data that young women wanted to get ahead. But it had lots of limitations."' - @aminatou to @JenSeniorNY — and we are absolutely seeing its limitations and flaws nytimes.com/2018/11/23/opi…
"What makes Sandberg’s current behavior so unsavory is that she put corporate interests ... ahead of the needs of democracy. She would sooner downplay Facebook’s involvement in a national security crisis than compromise the integrity of her reputation." nytimes.com/2018/11/23/opi…
This is also key, from @karaswisher, on the intense scrutiny Sandberg is facing vs Zuckerberg right now:
nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opi…
nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opi…
@karaswisher "Everyone expects so little from the male leaders [of tech] who are often seen as the fulcrum of the digital worlds they create, while the female leaders — who are not usually the inventors — are held to a tougher line." nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opi…
"Ms. Sandberg is hardly blameless, but notice that she is the one facing the real firing line and not Mr. Zuckerberg. Which is to say, no matter his responsibility, he is unkillable, unfireable and untouchable." - @karaswisher nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opi…
This shouldn't be an either/or — both Sandberg and Zuckerberg deserve a lot of scrutiny for poor decisions made. It's also true that most think the older, more experienced Sandberg should know better while Zuck "managed to come off like a geek who has lost his way in the woods."
Leaders who lie, make bad or unethical decisions should face consequences. To that end: "Parliament has used its legal powers to seize internal Facebook documents .. after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to answer MPs’ questions." theguardian.com/technology/201…
To cap it all off - here's an NYT op-ed asking the question a lot of people have been facing with turmoil for the last few months to years. "Do you have a moral duty to leave Facebook?" nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opi…
The argument about Sandberg that resonates the most with me is this: Lean In, and her decisions over the past 2 years, show her to be in service of protecting existing systems/Facebook/her own power, rather than trying to reform for good.
And that's gutting from someone hailed as a feminist leader. @rtraister writes about this in her book, 'Good and Mad,' and bell hooks nailed it in this kicker here. A commitment to protecting the status quo is a commitment to protecting the patriarchy. thenation.com/article/sandbe…
