謝麗爾?桑德伯格：Facebook的女當家

從2004年創(chuàng)立到2012年上市，F(xiàn)acebook在短短的八年間成為全球最大的社交網(wǎng)站。在這份榮耀的背后，F(xiàn)acebook首席運營官謝麗爾·桑德伯格功不可沒。在Facebook，這位有著政界和商界職業(yè)背景的“女管家”就像一群孩子當中的成年人，將“家長督導”的模式發(fā)揮到極致，協(xié)助扎克伯格將Facebook推上了前所未有的高度。《紐約客》稱她可能會改寫硅谷由男人主導的文化；《彭博商業(yè)周刊》甚至揣測她有可能成為美國總統(tǒng)；而她的大學導師蘭特·普利切特稱，在他的印象中，桑德伯格的人生目標是領導整個世界。

Sheryl Sandberg was once in a meeting in New York, pitching a deal, when she needed a bathroom break. Embarrassed, the man to whom she was pitching had to admit he had no idea where the womens bathroom was. Sandberg wondered whether they had just moved in to the office. No, came the reply, they had been there for a year. “Are you telling me that I am the only woman to have pitched a deal in this office for a year?” Sandberg later recalled. “And he looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, or maybe youre the only one who had to go to the bathroom.”

Facebooks chief operating officer (COO) is used to being the only woman in the boardroom—but she doesnt like it. On Wednesday she joins some of the worlds biggest movers and shakers1) at the World Economic Forum2)s annual shindig3) in Davos, Switzerland, as one of the six co-chairs. The other five are, of course, men. There will be other powerful women in attendance4): German chancellor Angela Merkel will deliver the opening address; Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Funds managing director5), is there too. But still the vast majority of those in attendance are men.

If Sandberg has anything to do with it, that is going to change. At last years Davos meeting, she held a breakfast to promote womens causes, a subject she is expected to take up there again, in between adding more of the worlds most powerful people as friends of Facebook.

Sandberg told her bathroom story in a speech at TED6), the tech worlds version of Davos. There too she was calling for more sex equality: “The numbers tell the story quite clearly,” she told the audience in Washington, DC. “One hundred and ninety heads of state; nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13% are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top, C-level jobs7), board seats, tops out at 15%～16%. The numbers have not moved since 2002, and are going in the wrong direction.”

The same could not be said of Sandberg. This year Facebook is expected to go public, in an initial public offering8) (IPO) share sale that could value it at $100bn and hand its COO her second huge Silicon Valley payday. Her first came at Facebooks arch-rival: she had joined Google when the search company was in its profitless infancy, and left after its IPO with a fortune in stock options9). Google made Sandberg a multi-millionaire; Facebook could now make her a billionaire.

Mark Zuckerberg, Mr Social Network himself, poached10) Sandberg in 2008. When she joined Facebook, it had 70 million users worldwide and was losing money. Now it boasts 10 times as many users and makes money. Sam Hamadeh, chief executive of PrivCo11), a private company analyst, reckons Sandberg holds about 3% or 4% of Facebook, almost guaranteeing she will become a billionaire when the company goes public. Shes pretty much in charge of everything at Facebook apart from the product itself, and has proved a smooth and perfect foil12) to the geeky, spiky Zuckerberg.

“Shes the grownup in the room,” says Hamadeh. “Facebook is not just some 27-year-old, its also this wonderfully polished woman with amazing credentials—thats got to be very useful.”

Sandberg also appears to know how to toe the company line13). She isnt on the Facebook board—guess what: no women are—but, in public at least, seems unperturbed by this.

Sandberg seems to have been a grownup from a very early age. She was always at the top of her class, her mother Adele told the New Yorker last year. It had its consequences. “In public schools, for a girl to be smart was not good for your social life,” Adele said. Her mother could only recall one time when her daughter rebelled. “One day she came home from school and said, ‘Mom, we have a problem. Youre not ready to let me grow up. I said, ‘Youre right. The minute she said it, I knew she was right.”

Sandberg studied economics at Harvard, where she caught the eye of Lawrence Summers, the former US treasury secretary who, in one of historys neat coincidences, had been president of the college when Zuckerberg started Facebook. Summers volunteered to be her adviser in her senior year, when Sandberg decided to write her thesis on the role of economics in spousal abuse. He became her mentor and helped launched her stellar14) career.

In 1991, Summers became the chief economist at the World Bank, and recruited Sandberg as a research assistant. She then returned to Harvard, earning her MBA with the highest distinction15), and joined management consultancy McKinsey & Co16) before rejoining Summers, serving as his chief of staff when he became treasury secretary under Bill Clinton.

“Sheryl always believed that if there were 30 things on her to-do list at the beginning of the day, there would be 30 check marks at the end of the day,” Summers recalled. “If I was making a mistake, she told me. She was totally loyal, but totally in my face17).” She repaid that loyalty when Summers got into hot water18) for suggesting innate differences between men and women might be one reason that fewer women succeed in science- and maths-based careers. Sandberg wrote that Summers had been “a true advocate for women throughout his career.”

When the Democrats lost the 2000 presidential election, Sandberg joined Google. She helped broker the firms first big deal, providing search tools for then-dominant internet service provider AOL19), and was on her way to becoming one of the most powerful women in business.

At home she has two children—a son born in 2005 and a daughter two years later—with husband David Goldberg, the chief executive of online data firm SurveyMonkey. They juggle20) their schedules so one of them is always home to feed the children. “The most important career choice youll make is who you marry,” she said in a speech last year.

Its clear that Sandberg believes women, in part, have to take some of the blame for their under-representation at the top level. “Until women are as ambitious as men, theyre not going to achieve as much as men,” she told US talkshow host Charlie Rose last year.

But a career is easier to manage when you have the money to afford help. For most women its not quite so simple, says Sekai Farai, a cultural anthropologist at Colombia University who has been studying tech startups21). “The tech community is progressive and it is a meritocracy22),” she says.

“Everyone can come to the table, but its also all about who gets invited. Getting the right introductions, currying favour23) with people in power is all far more difficult for women. Sandberg had an incredibly powerful mentor; very few women are given that kind of opportunity.”

Men need to take their share of responsibility too, says Cindy Gallop, a fellow TED speaker, and founder of crowdsourcing site IfWeRanTheWorld. “I think Sheryl Sandberg is doing a great job of inspiring women to think differently about how they can progress in business. Id just like to see Sheryls male peers doing the same thing, so that we dont just inspire women to want to be the next Sheryl Sandberg; we also inspire them to want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, and the next Steve Jobs.”

For Sucharita Mulpuru, a tech analyst at Forrester Research24), the problem goes back further than that. “Women dont pursue maths and sciences. If you dont have a technology background, you are not going to get a startup off the ground in Silicon Valley,” she says.

As Mulpuru points out, Sandberg isnt the founder; shes the manager. Like Meg Whitman, the former eBay boss to whom she is often compared, Sandberg is the adult supervisor brought in to manage the talented but temperamental25) boys.

Whitman turned eBay from a tech junk shop into a global phenomenon. Then she took her billions and started a second, less successful, career in politics. In 2010 Whitman spent $160m in an unsuccessful attempt to become governor of California, outspending the winner, Jerry Brown, six to one. And she is not the only tech leader to jump into politics—former Hewlett-Packard26) chief Carly Fiorina also made an unsuccessful bid for a California senate seat.

Perhaps one day Sandberg will prove more successful—though perhaps on a Democratic ticket27). She has strong Washington connections and a more winning personality than Whitman or Fiorina. Amid criticism of Facebooks practices she recently brokered28) a privacy agreement with the Federal Trade Commission that Hamadeh says was testimony to her political skills. “It should have been much worse for them,” he says.

Reciprocal29) altruism30) is her style. When the Sandbergs hosted Barack Obama for a Silicon Valley fundraiser31) last year, they brought in Lady Gaga too, whose sky-high heels and hair made the event a media sensation.

In interviews Sandberg, inevitably, says she is happy at Facebook, and not thinking about what she wants to do next. But whenever she makes up her mind, she will not be short of the power and influence—or money—to make her goal happen.

有一次，謝麗爾·桑德伯格在紐約參加一個會議，竭力促成一筆交易，期間她需要去下洗手間。和她談交易的那位男士很是尷尬，坦承他不知道女洗手間在哪兒。桑德伯格很是納悶：難道他們剛剛搬進這個辦公室？這倒不是，他回答說，他們已經(jīng)在那里辦公一年了。“您是說，我是這一年以來在這里談生意的唯一一位女性？”桑德伯格后來回憶道，“他看了看我，說：‘是的，不過也可能您是唯一一位需要上洗手間的女性?！?/p>

作為Facebook的首席運營官，桑德伯格是董事會會議室里的唯一一位女性，對此她已經(jīng)習以為常。但她并不喜歡這樣。本周三(編注：指2012年1月25日，本文刊發(fā)于2012年1月24日)，她和世界上最頂尖的風云人物一起，在瑞士達沃斯出席了世界經(jīng)濟論壇一年一度的盛大集會，她是六位共同主席中的一位，其他五位當然都是男性。出席會議的還有其他一些有權勢的女性：德國總理安吉拉·默克爾致開幕詞；國際貨幣基金組織總裁克里斯蒂娜·拉加德也出席了會議。但絕大多數(shù)與會者仍然是男性。

如果桑德伯格參與其中的話，這個局面將改變。去年的達沃斯會議上，她舉辦了一個早餐會來推動女性事業(yè)的發(fā)展。今年的會議上，在把更多全球范圍內(nèi)最有權力的人物發(fā)展成為Facebook好友的同時，預計她還會提及這一話題。

在一次TED大會(即技術界的達沃斯會議)的演講中，桑德伯格講述了她與洗手間的故事。在會上，她又一次為爭取更多的男女平等權而呼吁?！皵?shù)據(jù)本身已經(jīng)很能說明問題了，”她在華盛頓特區(qū)對與會人員說，“在(美國的)190位國家首腦中，只有九位是女性。在全世界所有國家的議會成員中，只有13%是女性。在公司，頂尖的高級管理人員和董事會席位中，女性只占15%～16%。這些數(shù)字自2002年起就沒有上升過，而且在朝著相反的方向發(fā)展?！?/p>

但這樣的情況并未發(fā)生在桑德伯格身上。今年Facebook即將上市(編注：本文刊發(fā)時Facebook尚未上市)，預計首次公開募股價值一千億美元，這同時也將是這位首席運營官在硅谷的第二個巨額發(fā)薪日。她的第一個巨額發(fā)薪日來自Facebook的主要對手Google：早在Google還處于毫無盈利的初創(chuàng)時期，她就加入了這家搜索引擎公司，并在Google首次公開募股之后離開了Google，離開時當然帶著一大筆價值不菲的優(yōu)先認股權。Google使桑德伯格變成了千萬富翁；而Facebook則可能使她成為億萬富翁。

人稱“社交網(wǎng)絡先生”的馬克·扎克伯格于2008年挖走了桑德伯格。她加入Facebook時，F(xiàn)acebook在全球有七千萬用戶，還在虧損運營。如今，F(xiàn)acebook擁有的用戶數(shù)是之前的十倍，并且已開始贏利。據(jù)PrivCo首席執(zhí)行官、私營公司分析師山姆·哈邁德估計，桑德伯格持有Facebook大約3%或4%的股份，公司一旦上市，這些股份幾乎可以確保她成為億萬富翁。除了產(chǎn)品本身外，桑德伯格幾乎管理著Facebook的一切事務。事實證明，對于難以應付的“極客一族”扎克伯格來說，溫和的桑德伯格是他完美的搭檔。

“她就像是一群孩子中的成年人，”哈邁德說?！癋acebook并不僅僅屬于某個27歲的年輕人(譯注：扎克伯格今年27歲)，也屬于這位歷經(jīng)磨練、處世老道的女士，她有著令人刮目的資歷——這才是非常有用的?！?/p>

桑德伯格似乎也很懂得遵守公司的慣例。她并不是Facebook董事會的成員(編注：Facebook已于2012年6月22日宣布桑德伯格加入公司董事會)。你猜怎么著，從來沒有女性進入過Facebook的董事會。但至少從公共場合來看，她似乎并未因此而受到困擾。

桑德伯格似乎很小的時候就顯得很成熟了。去年，她母親阿黛爾告訴《紐約客》雜志，她上學時成績一直名列前茅。這對她是有影響的?！霸诠W校，一個女孩子太聰明對她的社交生活沒什么好處?！卑Ⅶ鞝栒f。在她母親的記憶中，女兒只有一次叛逆的時候?！坝幸惶欤艑W回來，對我說：‘媽媽，我們之間有一個問題。你總是不想讓我長大。我說：‘你說的很對。她剛一說完，我就知道她是對的?！?/p>

桑德伯格在哈佛學習經(jīng)濟學時，引起了美國前財政部長勞倫斯·薩默斯的注意。純粹出于歷史的巧合，在扎克伯格創(chuàng)辦Facebook時，薩默斯碰巧是哈佛大學校長。在大四撰寫畢業(yè)論文時，桑德伯格決定要寫關于經(jīng)濟學在虐待配偶中所起的作用，薩默斯主動提出要做她的指導老師。他成了她的良師益友，幫助她開啟了卓越的職業(yè)生涯。

1991年，薩默斯成為世界銀行首席經(jīng)濟學家，就聘用桑德伯格做他的研究助理。之后，桑德伯格又回到了哈佛，以最優(yōu)異的成績獲得了工商管理學碩士學位，并加入了管理咨詢企業(yè)麥肯錫公司。后來她又重新回到薩默斯身邊，在他擔任克林頓政府財政部長時做他的辦公室主任。

“謝麗爾一直堅信，在她一天的工作清單中，如果開始時有30項待辦事宜，那么在一天結束時，這30項前面都應該打上對勾，”薩默斯回憶說，“如果我犯了錯，她會告訴我。她絕對忠于職守，但又全然不顧我的面子。”后來，她又一次表現(xiàn)出了對薩默斯的忠誠，那是因為薩默斯說女性在以科學和數(shù)學為基礎的職業(yè)中鮮有成功者，其原因之一大概是男女與生俱來的差異，這句話立刻使薩默斯成為眾矢之的。針對此，桑德伯格撰文說薩默斯其實“在整個職業(yè)生涯中一直是力挺女性的”。

民主黨在2000年的總統(tǒng)大選中失利后，桑德伯格加入了Google。她幫助促成了Google公司的第一筆大生意，為當時占主導地位的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務提供商“美國在線”提供搜索工具。由此，她開始朝著成為商界最強勢女性的方向邁進。

在家里，她有兩個孩子——兒子出生于2005年，兩年后女兒誕生。她的丈夫是戴維·哥德堡，在線數(shù)據(jù)公司SurveyMonkey的首席執(zhí)行官。他們要經(jīng)常調(diào)整各自的時間安排，以確保總會有一個在家里照顧孩子?！澳阋鞒龅淖钪匾穆殬I(yè)選擇是和誰結婚?！彼ツ暝谝淮窝葜v中說道。

顯然，桑德伯格認為，針對頂級領導層中女性稀少的這一現(xiàn)象，女人本身是要負一部分責任的?！俺桥讼衲腥艘粯佑惺聵I(yè)心，否則她們不會取得和男人一樣大的成就?！比ツ晁诮邮苊绹摽谛愎?jié)目主持人查理·羅斯采訪時說道。

但如果你有錢來為自己的事業(yè)開路，你的職業(yè)生涯會更容易掌控。對于大多數(shù)女性來說，要做到這一點并不容易，塞凱·法萊說。法萊是哥倫比亞大學的文化人類學家，一直致力于研究新興科技公司?！翱萍冀缭诓粩噙M步，這里的一切都由精英來管理?！彼f道。

“人人都有機會來分享盛宴，但關鍵是誰能夠得到邀請。對于女性來說，要得到正確的引薦，贏得當權者的青睞，簡直是難上加難。桑德伯格遇到了一個擁有驚人權勢的導師，能擁有這種機遇的女性少之又少。” 塞凱說。

男人也需要負上一部分責任，辛迪·蓋洛普說。辛迪也是TED會議的發(fā)言人，是大眾外包網(wǎng)站IfWeRanTheWorld (如果我們統(tǒng)治世界)的創(chuàng)始人?！拔艺J為桑德伯格有一點做得很棒，那就是激勵女性轉變思路，來思考如何才能在商業(yè)中取得進步。我希望看到謝麗爾的男性同事們也能做到這一點，這樣我們就不必僅僅激勵女性們成為下一個謝麗爾·桑德伯格；我們還要激勵她們成為下一個馬克·扎克伯格，成為下一個史蒂夫·喬布斯。”

在弗雷斯特研究公司的技術分析師蘇查麗塔·穆普魯看來，問題還不是那么簡單。她說：“女性對數(shù)學和科學不感興趣。如果你沒有科技背景，就很難在硅谷啟動創(chuàng)業(yè)公司?！?/p>

正如穆普魯指出的那樣，桑德伯格不是創(chuàng)始人，她只是管理者。人們常把她和eBay前總裁梅格·惠特曼相比，和梅格一樣，桑德伯格也是一個成熟的監(jiān)管者，負責管理那些才華橫溢卻又行事沖動的大男孩。

惠特曼把eBay從一個科技舊貨店變成了一家全球性的公司。然后，她帶著億萬財富準備在政治上開辟另一職業(yè)生涯，但卻不那么成功。2010年，惠特曼花了1.6億美元競選加利福尼亞州州長，結果以失敗告終，而她所花的經(jīng)費是獲勝者杰里·布朗的六倍。她并不是科技領袖中改行從政的唯一一位——惠普公司前總裁卡莉·費奧莉娜也曾想競選加利福尼亞州參議員的席位，但也未成功。

也許有一天桑德伯格會取得更大的成功——不過或許她會代表民主黨參選。她在華盛頓擁有強大的人際關系，而且比惠特曼和費奧莉娜更有人格魅力。在人們對Facebook做法的批評聲中，她最近竭力促成了一項與聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會簽署的隱私保護協(xié)議，哈邁德認為這件事足以證明她的政治手腕。他說：“Facebook的情況本來應該更糟?！?/p>

互惠利他主義是她一貫的行事作風。去年，桑德伯格夫婦在硅谷的一場募捐活動上款待了巴拉克·奧巴馬，他們還特意邀請了Lady Gaga到場。Lady Gaga那空前絕后的高跟鞋和夸張怪異的發(fā)型把這一活動變成了轟動一時的新聞事件。

在接受采訪時，桑德伯格總是說她在Facebook干得很愉快，沒有去想下一步該做什么。但一旦她下定決心，不管任何時候，她都不會缺少所需的權力、影響力——甚或是財力——來實現(xiàn)自己的目標。

1. mover and shaker：〈美〉有權勢的人

2. World Economic Forum：世界經(jīng)濟論壇，以研究和探討世界經(jīng)濟領域存在的問題、促進國際經(jīng)濟合作與交流為宗旨的非官方國際性機構，總部設在瑞士日內(nèi)瓦。論壇因每年年會都在達沃斯召開，故也被稱為“達沃斯論壇”。

3. shindig [???nd?ɡ] n. 盛大聚會，狂歡會

4. in attendance：出席，當值

5. managing director：總裁，總經(jīng)理

6. TED：指TED大會，TED分別代表technology、entertainment和design，即技術、娛樂與設計大會。每年3月，TED大會在美國召集眾多科學、設計、文學、音樂等領域的杰出人物，分享他們關于技術、社會、人的思考和探索。

7. C-level jobs：指CEO、CFO (首席財務官)、CIO (首席信息官)、CMO (首席營銷官)、CSO (首席安全官)、CTO (首席技術官)等以“C”開頭的高級管理職位。

8. initial public offering：首次公開募股，指企業(yè)通過證券交易所首次公開向投資者增發(fā)股票，以期募集用于企業(yè)發(fā)展資金的過程。

9. stock option：(公司內(nèi)部職工的)優(yōu)先認股權，即普通股股東的優(yōu)惠權，實際上是一種短期的看漲，擁有優(yōu)先認股權的老股東可以按低于股票市價的特定價格購買公司新發(fā)行的一定數(shù)量的股票。一般來說，新股票的定價低于股票市價，從而使優(yōu)先認股權具有價值。

10. poach [p??t?] vt. 挖(其他機構的成員或顧客)

11. PrivCo：美國紐約一家市場調(diào)查公司

12. foil [f??l] n. 陪襯物，烘托者

13. toe the line：聽從命令

14. stellar [?stel?(r)] adj. 杰出的，優(yōu)秀的

15. highest distinction：最高榮譽

16. McKinsey & Co：麥肯錫公司，全球最著名的管理咨詢公司，由James OMcKinsey于1926年創(chuàng)建。

17. in ones face：當著某人的面直接反對某人

18. get into hot water：(相當于get into trouble)陷入麻煩中

19. AOL：美國在線服務公司(American On-Line)，美國時代華納子公司，著名的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務提供商

20. juggle [?d??ɡ(?)l] vt. 力圖使平衡，盡力對付

21. startup [?stɑ?t??p] n. 新興公司(尤指新興網(wǎng)絡公司)，新開張的企業(yè)

22. meritocracy [?mer??t?kr?si] n. 精英管理(制度)；賢能統(tǒng)治(社會)

23. curry favour：求寵(于人)，拍(人)馬屁

24. Forrester Research：弗雷斯特研究公司，美國一家獨立的技術和市場調(diào)研公司，它通過研究、咨詢、市場活動和高層對等交流計劃等幫助那些全球性的企業(yè)用戶建立起市場領導地位。

25. temperamental [?tempr??ment(?)l] adj. 沖動的，性情暴躁的

26. Hewlett-Packard：惠普公司(簡稱HP)，美國一家全球性的資訊科技公司，主要專注于打印機、數(shù)位影像、軟件、計算機與資訊服務等業(yè)務。

27. ticket [?t?k?t] n. (政黨、團體的)候選人名單

28. broker [?br??k?(r)] vt. 作為中間人來安排、設法

29. reciprocal [r??s?pr?k(?)l] adj. 互惠的

30. altruism [??ltru??z(?)m] n. 利他主義

31. fundraiser [?f?ndreiz?] n. 籌款活動，募捐會