Sheryl Sandberg

Learning to Ask Big Questions

Before Sheryl Sandberg helped run one of the world's largest technology companies, she studied how economic choices affect people's lives. She was born in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1969, and grew up in North Miami Beach, Florida. Her family valued education and community service, and she became a strong student who liked organizing projects as well as understanding ideas.

At Harvard College, Sandberg studied economics. She graduated summa cum laude in 1991, then worked as an economist at the World Bank. A 1993 World Bank report lists her on a mission that studied a public-health project in India. She returned to Harvard and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1995. Those years joined classroom learning with an early look at how large organizations make decisions.

From Public Service to a Young Google

After business school, Sandberg worked briefly as a management consultant. She then served in the U.S. Treasury Department during President Bill Clinton's administration, becoming chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. The job placed her near decisions about national and international economic policy.

In 2001, Sandberg moved to California to join Google, then a young internet company. As vice president of global online sales and operations, she helped build systems for selling online advertising and supporting customers around the world. She also managed operations for several consumer products and helped launch Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm. Six years at Google prepared her to guide another fast-growing technology business.

Helping Facebook Become a Business

Facebook announced in March 2008 that Sandberg would become its chief operating officer. The social network already attracted many users, but it still needed a stronger business organization. Sandberg oversaw areas including sales, marketing, human resources, public policy, privacy, and communications. She helped develop the advertising operation that turned Facebook from a popular start-up into a highly profitable global company. In June 2012, she joined its board of directors.

Growth also brought responsibility. Facebook's leaders faced serious questions about privacy, misinformation, and the effects of social media. In 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission imposed a $5 billion penalty on Facebook for privacy violations and required major changes. That history makes Sandberg's business legacy more complicated than a simple success story. She stepped down as Meta's operating chief in 2022 after more than fourteen years and left its board in 2024.

Books, Resilience, and Work Beyond Meta

Sandberg published Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead in 2013. The book encouraged women to pursue leadership while also drawing attention to barriers at work. LeanIn.Org grew from those ideas into a worldwide network of small peer-support groups called Circles. After the sudden death of her husband, Dave Goldberg, in 2015, Sandberg and psychologist Adam Grant wrote Option B, a 2017 book about grief and resilience.

Today Sandberg chairs the family foundation behind Lean In, Option B, and a scholarship program, and she has co-founded an early-stage investment fund. Her wider contribution links economics, technology management, writing, and advocacy for women and girls. Her career also offers a useful lesson: leadership is measured not only by growth, but by how honestly leaders face the consequences of the systems they help build.